Write About People You Know

There is an unofficial tally of tablecloths destroyed by the mighty elbows of your favorite writer that stands at about six or more.

Said cloths are in the dining room that I use as my writing domicile during the evenings and sometimes daylight hours in which I pound and or stroke the keyboard.

They are not the good cloth kind because those don’t come out for ordinary meals but are a standard staple of Target.

If I had a private office or better space in which to write there would be no issue between myself and the cloths but that is not the current world in which we live.

Thought about taking a turn as the Phantom of the Opera but Michael Crawford make different music of the night so that didn’t work.

One day things will change and all I ask of you will include a couple of additional items, space to write being primary among them.

Did I mention I feel pretty darn good about the piece I wrote last night?

Got asked today to help someone with their story and told them to “write about people you know.”

I do that frequently though I intentionally blend people so that they can’t claim to be an Daniel or an Anne.

Just a story of two souls or maybe elements of two or three in each.

The Face In The Mirror

The younger Mr. Wilner told me again about how horrified he was to have told one of my bad jokes.

“Dad, I just reacted to something a coworker said and told your awful joke.”

I laughed and told him to stop fighting it, “the indoctrination is too late. You’re stuck. Be happy the face in the mirror is your own and not mine.”

Didn’t mention the hand gesture I make that my own father did or three or four other things I noticed that were his and are now mine.

The old man comes up quite a bit here and I have begun to wonder if maybe it is because it is another place to fill him in on some of the things he has missed out on.

Told the younger Mr. Wilner a while back when he was frustrated with me that I was sorry he was upset and that his grandfather was a much harder man than I am.

He definitely softened as he aged and grandchildren softened him more than I can describe.

They have no idea what it was like to battle that guy nor should they. But I remember the wars and how implacable he was about some things.

To be fair, I did get some of that and have used his words about not losing any sleep over some things and I haven’t.

In matters of safety and security in which I could see no other option I did as I was taught because “life is rough all over sometimes.”

But I have tried to do a few things differently and made myself available in a different way. You can call that generational or whatever you wish.

Given a choice I’d pick him as my father again which is as good an endorsement as you can get. though I might have asked for a couple genetic adjustments.

Another two inches or so in height and a better digestive system but aside from that I am relatively bulletproof.

My whole body aches from my time at the gym today as it has every day for a week and I couldn’t be happier about it.

It’s why I keep writing and thinking about it.

There is no doubt I am getting stronger and my body is being reshaped and that provides much happiness.

Got a few other things I need to tick off my list of things to do that will go a long way as well. Two hands on the head as they say and a dedicated focus will get me to where I want to be.

Who Are You Now?

In one of the past posts I referenced time I spent at as Lyft driver and mentioned a 20 something year-old kid who didn’t want to get out of my car.

He was drunk and his girlfriend had dumped him.

I gave him a few minutes to talk through some of it with me and told him he was too young to get stuck on a “who are you now” bender because I didn’t think most 25 year-olds knew that with or without a partner.

Guess it jumped out at me more now because my group is in that period of time that includes empty nesters, divorce, retirement and new grandparents.

I hear conversations about this all the darn time now and I obviously am thinking about it too.

All the children in this house are in college or working. Some of the structure they required is no longer needed in the same way.

There are openings and opportunities to look at things differently.

It reminds me a bit of life 30 years ago but with a few twists. Kind of exciting and interesting.