Normal? Until It’s Not

Ahhh, there it is! Ready for the day, the pups are quiet, and I’ve got Bruce singing the wonderful song, “Letter to You” in the background and I feel normal. Well, as normal as one can feel in this world. The 20th anniversary of 9/11 is approaching, and I’m a bit concerned. I wouldn’t call it fear, I’d call it concern. I’m concerned about the safety of our troops, infrastructure, and citizens. We never were twenty years ago this week. Now we are. Normal, as it existed in September 8, 2001, is nevermore.

We were participating in our daughter Tracy’s wedding. It was the most fun! The whole weekend was one gathering after another. We made the most of family time. Monday, our son who works in Washington, went back to work on 9/11. All hell broke loose.

The Babe was at work. He called me on our ancient cell phone and told me a plant hit the tower. I just dropped off son Frank at his construction job. I went home to watch the second tower fall, and I cried.

As a kid of the 60’s who did Air Raid Drills at school, a lot of fears came back. Black and White war stories were the norm on our televisions in the evening. COMBAT was one we always watched. The visions of tanks rolling down streets of cities was burned in my brain. I had nightmares about that happening in our neighborhood. The tanks came up our steep bank, knocked down our fences, and came between our house and the neighbors. The same dream repeated itself during the restless nights after 9/11. Coincidence? No. Some grief experts taught us it is a normal reaction. Whatever was worst in you life will come back to you. People my mom’s age relived the news of Pearl Harbor. Healing and normal seemed impossible.

It took a long time to feel safe again. I know we will feel it again; so far, we’ve overcome and gone on through some horrible strife in this country. Please, let’s all of us just remember, we’re all entitled to opinions. We don’t necessairly need to force them onto others. You do you. I’ll do me. Let’s just get along.

After 9/11, the first thing that changed was church attendance in this country. It skyrocketed. I do not have stats about when it “fell” but what I can tell you is our country needs to remember God. We need God. He needs to be in our lives, whatever form you believe in. Just remember, this universe is about more than just ourselves.

While I don’t agree with Springsteen’s politics, I love him for what he does with his own music. Singer Songwriters have to be doubly talented in my opinion. After 9/11, he set to work writing most of the new songs he had to the album “The Rising.” He described how people would tell him how we needed him. We needed him to write about the tragedy, the losses, the empty side of the bed, the going on without someone. He did a magnificent job. Dig back on your streaming services and listen to the music. Listen to the heartache. Listen to the pain. And then, listen to the healing. Feel the healing. Whenever I feel hopelessness, I look to this album. Music heals. Every time. Try it, you’ll like it. My heart feels better already. I hope yours does, too.

No one knows what will happen next. I just want the COVID issue and the terrorist issues to go away. I also am experienced enough to know that will not happen in my lifetime. I can only pray for God to be good to us, our grandkids, and families. The rest is in His hands. I can’t take it back and worry after it’s been handed off. Wouldn’t serve any purpose that’s good.

I think tomorrow, we’ll talk about Pete Seeger, and the folk music genre. I’ll do some research this afternoon!

As we go forth to remember the lost, the horror we overcame, and the security we lost that day, remember most people are good. They’re not all evil. We have a great record of surviving. We must look forward and not backwards. Let’s journey that way together. See you tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Suddenly Saturday Again!

There is a lot going on here at the Home Office at Raabe Ranch. I need to make a list about making a list, and categorizing everything we need to do in the next week. Not only are there blogs to write, I vow to begin again on my novel, The Freeing of Katie Fitzgibbons.

I know the story will come back to me, after all, I lived with it the whole time I learned to craft the chapters, scenes, character development, and all sorts of things. Sam Tyler is not only my friend, but I hired her last summer and fall as my book coach. She does a marvelous job. I learned so much from her about good writing. She is tough, but very respectful about it. She won’t dash your hopes; to the contrary, she will encourage them along with your confidence. It’s worth the fee. We met at a Nebraska Writers Guild Conference over a year ago. That was before COVID. Here is her contact info if you would like to learn more about her. After an intense summer and fall of hard work, I took one month off (December) and somehow it extended into January, 2021. That’s OK.

I have a 2 p.m. Masterclass today about “The Build a Better Brand Method.” I need to update my “About Me” information. It’s necessary to build a community and a following. I’ve experimented with Tags and Categories, and since I started to blog about being on the Keto Diet, I’ve gained a lot of followers just on that point alone. Whether that’s good or bad, I’m not sure. I have nearly 300 followers for the blog alone. I’m happy with that, since I started at zero nearly two years ago.

Any part of life is dynamic, you never reach a static existence except maybe in death. Nothing happens much after that on this earth. We must change with the times about some things. Communication, actions, networking. All of the brand building is simply 2021 talk for marketing. So there we go. No one talks marketing any more, although that is what we do. I’m interested in finding out how to do that. Since I’m an Indie Author, I need to learn about all of these things. I would learn about them even if I had an agent and a publishing company interested in me. I may look one once I publish a couple books on my own, but I do enjoy this whole process.

The future is ahead of all of us. From this point on, I believe I can pick and choose where this career will take me. The opportunities are about the best they’ve ever been, and the authors I’ve met are all generous people who seem to genuinely want to help each other. Many creatives are like this. They are particular about their circle of people, and will help in any way they can. It amazes me.

How are you spending your present and your future? Are you thrilled to wake every day and do something you love? I’m there, and it’s just too bad I can’t be at a desk, sewing machine, or an easel for longer periods of time. I’d probably be a creating machine! It’s ok, we all can only do what wee do. At any moment, a person my age could have a stroke or another medical mishap and not be able to create anymore. That would seriously hurt me no end. I’m praying for good health and longevity together. Hope springs eternal.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading today. I hope it’s a beautiful day for you. Be kind, be safe, be on the lookout. Help someone out. See you tomorrow!