Story Land Jamboree

 I love it when I meet someone with whom I relate.  There is a lady at the church where I attend. I don't know if she would want me to mention her publicly so I will simply call her "V." She has the sharpest wit. She is always there to help with church projects, even when she is moving slowly with her cane.  There are days when I can tell she's in pain but she just smiles and keeps on trucking with her humor intact. Recently, we had a church event and we're all rushing around and she had volunteered for a couple of duties that I knew would be taxing for her.  "How are you making it, V?" I asked her.  "Thank God for pain medicine. That's all I can say," she replied, dryly.  "Amen, Sister."  I was eating a quick breakfast and had brought my own meds to take and was spilling them onto the table before the event began.  "If your bringing drugs, you had better have brought enough to share," she joked.  I just love her. She...

I feel like a Catholic who has not been to confession in too long.  Only it is me, the penitent writer, who has not written much in so very long. So, I think my confession would go something like this:  "Forgive me Readers for I have sinned. It has been almost four years since my last blog/confession ..." Do I have reasons for being so long away? Of course, I do. My mother's stroke, my life-changing surgery, my mother's death, my dad's health, the pandemic, work stress, life stress, health issues, and a zillion other problems and distractions that plague modern people with little demons that tug them away from what they were meant to be doing.  Some people were meant to be growing gardens but never got the energy to do it for the last year or two. Some people dropped off their exercise routine and their dream of doing a 10K or a marathon has shriveled up and died. The "thing" is different for everyone.  My thing is writing. My non-fiction writing has nev...