The Old Woman By The Sea

I can't remember a time when I've haven't had some tale swirling around in my head.  But then again, don't we all have a story to tell? For some of us it’s of a personal nature, a verbal vomit in an attempt to rid ourselves of the demon that’s lived inside for so long. For others, it may be a salvation story: finding themselves again after a short or long period of wandering aimlessly through a life that was not their own. Some people may have funny family anecdotes that are worthy of presentation by stand up comics, while others have incredible tales of strength or sadness during an illness or death of a loved one. Whatever the tale – victory/defeat, joy/woe, strength/fear, overindulgence/neglect - our stories will out themselves in one form or another. Musicians tell tales with skillfully crafted melodies that take us up and down the emotional ladder, artists’ stories are told with a seemingly simple brush stroke. A writer? A writer tells their tales with the proverbial stroke of the pen.

I have many stories to tell. I’ve started a short story about discovery after death. Oh, not physical death but death of long-held negative, hurtful beliefs such as fear of failure, fear of success, fear of being alone, fear of everything, it seemed. Writing has been a renaissance, a re-birth for me. The old me started gasping for breath about the time I started writing this blog, I think because I was finally pursuing a secretly held passion. My old self died an ignominious death while I was writing so intensely during the month of November. About mid-November I woke up and realized I was a different woman. I wasn’t afraid of trying, I wasn’t afraid of failing and certainly wasn’t intimidated by the thought of success…I wasn’t worried about being too old, or too fat, or not perfect, or not talented enough. I woke up and realized I was happy.  I was writing, actually doing that which I had dreamed of for so long, doing that which excited me just to think about...I was doing it.  That one month, November, has changed me forever.

There was an old woman who lived by the sea
With an abundance of tales to share.
Tales of lives lived fast and sharp,
Of lives lived unaware.

There was an old woman who lived by the sea
With hardly a single care
Until the empty caught up with her -
T’was more than she could bear

There was an old woman who lived by the sea
Enveloped by an unfulfilled dare
So out she waded in the sea so deep
Looking for succor there

There emerged a new woman who lived by the sea
She relished the new day fair
And welcomed each moment of joy and sun
As she danced in the salty air

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Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth
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See you Saturday, Li’l Sis.