Isn?t it ironic how we take the simplest things for granted? Last week while on a short trip up through Kentucky and Tennessee, my husband Jerry got a really bad stomach bug. When it was time for us to come home on Wednesday morning the choice was to either stay at the hotel another day or make our way down I-40 toward home, with me driving.
You probably think, what?s the big deal? Well, the big deal is that my husband never, ever let?s me drive when we go on a trip and believe me I don?t mind. I sit back close my eyes, or get wrapped up in a great novel. It?s a time of rest and relaxation for me. So on Wednesday morning while traveling down the highway with the rain pelting the windshield, a soggy mist filling the air and semis beside me, in front of me and behind, I was anything but having a relaxing moment.
All these years Jerry?s been fighting that traffic, and I never thought much about it, driving is just what he does, every day. But Wednesday I realized what constant stress you?re under, always on the lookout for someone to make that one wrong, fatal move. No wonder Jerry has blood pressure problems. So, from now on I?ll offer to drive more often, knowing he?ll say, ?Are you crazy??
The blessing that came out of all this is that of course I picked up the stomach bug, and while in bed most of the day on Saturday, too sick to worry about this deadline or that one, or getting caught up on Facebook or sending out press releases. My brain just simply shut down. After about five hours of thinking nothing, drifting in and out of sleep and dozing, scenes from the future starting forming in my head. A new chapter was unfolding. My fourth novel was sprouting; pushing it?s way up through the earth, coming to life! It had been lying dormant in my mind for sometime, I could never quite get a grip on the plot. But now I have it, as clear as an autumn sky. I truly can?t wait to put the voice of Frankie Mae Murphy down on paper. Stay turned for more about ?The River Keeper.?
And remember; always try to find a blessing in all things.
