Daily writing prompt

What’s a simple pleasure in life that brings you joy?

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The feeling of falling asleep — of abandoning wakefulness, of surrendering to drowsiness, of letting go of the day’s tensions — is one of my simplest pleasures. It doesn’t get much simpler than something I do every night, part of my daily maintenance.

I have to sleep. There’s no sense in feeling guilty about the enforced break. There’s no ‘I should be doing housework instead’. There’s only a need to shut down and sleep.

Sleep means dreams, and I relish my dreams. The surreal landscapes, the deep plots, the hidden messages. I love everything about dreams, even the nightmares that occasionally show up.

I love waking up. I smile most mornings because I have had sleep, have had journeys, have partaken of refreshment.

Daily writing prompt

What was the last live performance you saw?

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Last Sunday, I watched the Nodaway County Chorale perform their annual Spring concert. Community choirs are an interesting concept, because there are people who love to sing who aren’t professionals. They don’t need to be — they enjoy singing, and that’s enough. They have enough talent to sing in tune and pick up the right rhythm, and they have enough fortitude to practice regularly.

My husband has been in the choir for over 15 years. He devotes Monday nights from September through April for this. They do two concerts a year — one at Christmas and one in the Spring. I admire his commitment and that of the 50-odd people who make up the chorus.

I am not in the Chorale. I lost my ability to sing several years ago — my voice has gotten weak and I can’t always hit the right notes. My type of singing tends toward folk music — if I played guitar I probably would still be writing and singing folk songs regardless of whether I could sing. Plus I like having my Monday nights free.

So I got to see my husband’s concert. It was good — they always are, no matter how much Richard fusses about it before the concert.

Daily writing prompt

What’s a job you would like to do for just one day?

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There are a lot of jobs I would like to try for one day. The one I’m thinking of, however, is mayor of a small town. I think I could handle that job for about a day. I couldn’t do much damage in one day, I figure, even if I’m bad at it. I know there would be a lot of administrative decisions I would need to make, many routine. It would not be an exciting time. I’d still like to do it, just to say I did.

There are other jobs I would like to do for a day. Cat rescue. Journalist. Disaster case manager. Extra in a movie.

There are a lot of jobs I wouldn’t like to do because I don’t have the physical prowess or the mental know-how. I don’t want to be a stunt double, or a doctor, or a professional makeup artist. (I would like to try professional moulage artist if there’s on-job training, but making someone look beautiful is too hard.) Nor would I want to be a fashion designer, an actor, or an engineer.

Professional author? I would love that, because it would mean that I’ve been picked up by a publisher. I could do that for more than one day!

Daily writing prompt

Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?

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“Do or do not — there is no ‘try'”. This, if you don’t recognize, is a quote from Yoda, the wizened green guy from the Star Wars movies. I live by this quote, because I believe that if one gets the option to ‘try’, they will give themselves an excuse not to achieve.

In real life, I do not always succeed. Nobody does, but I don’t look at my efforts as ‘trying’. I have done my best, with no excuses.

I don’t ‘try’ new things — I do new things. Sometimes I do them very badly, but I give them my best.

I see Yoda’s quote as an impetus not to do things half-assed.

Daily writing prompt

Have you ever been camping?

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Years and years ago, I went camping at Illinois Yearly (Friends) Meeting in McNabb, IL. At Illinois Yearly Meeting House were primitive dorms and an even more primitive camping spot across the road. My friend Joan and I chose the campground, knowing we would have to walk across the road in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. We were okay with that. We put up the tent when there was just enough sunlight to light our way, and then we settled in for the night.

I thought I had found the comfortable spot in the tent, only to realize that the air mattress settled on top of a tree root and was not quite as comfortable as I had hoped. Joan was likewise settled on top of a tree root, and there were no comfortable spots in the tent. That was okay; I still had the great outdoors to hang out in.

In the middle of the night, I woke up to rain. How cozy! I felt a bit less cozy and a bit more exposed when I heard lightning, but we were pretty protected under a tree. Had I been thinking better, I would not have felt cozier under a tree, but I was somewhat sleep deprived and not thinking clearly.

When we woke up the next morning, I realized my air mattress was floating. The whole tent had taken on about an inch or two of water. So had our sleeping bags, our spare clothes, and the rest of the contents of our tent. We had to take everything and hang it in the tree to dry. Luckily I had some clothes that had stayed dry so I had something to wear that day. Everything else was in the tree to dry.

We spent the next two nights in the dorm, having ended our grand camping experiment.