Today I like: Swim team
Not so much: Eye strain
We took our kids for a walk along the Potomac River this past weekend. As much as I’m looking forward to leaving the DC area in the rearview, I will miss the Potomac. People do not realize the beauty of that river just west of DC. The waterfalls and rock formations are like something out of the Last of the Mohicans. If one uses one’s imagination, and ignores the McMansions on the VA side and the smell of the C&O canal, one can catch a glimpse of what it must have been like in the days before the Potomac wrapped its arms around the capital of the free world.
My kids ran ahead, along paths worn down by thousands of tourists and locals alike. I called out the usual mommy-isms: “Don’t get too far ahead.” “Watch out for the prickle bushes.” “I can’t see you!” and of course, “Watch where you’re going!”
That last one didn’t hold. Within minutes my oldest daughter had tripped on a tree root and bashed her knee. I knelt beside her and rubbed the sore spot. “Are you alright? You have to watch for the roots.”
She looked up at me with her brown doe’s eyes. Strong soldier, she wiped them and said, “I’m okay. But I like to look at the trees.”
I had to agree with her as she got up, and kept on with her eyes dutifully on the ground. I’ve always found it frustrating that I spend more time watching my feet on these woodsy walks that watching the world around me. The roots and rocks are always there, waiting to catch the toe of my shoe or turn an ankle. Last fall I took a tumble on the last mile of a long run that left me with scars on my knees and elbows reminiscent of a bad slide into home by a first-year Little Leaguer. So I remember to watch the earth below me.
But what am I missing? I’m missing the depth of the woods around me, especially with my newly LASIK-ed eyes. Individual leaves on unique trees a hundred yards and a thousand layers of foliage in the distance. I’m missing spider webs and woolybears and blue dragonflies like winged bits of spun sugar that must, must, must find a way into one of my stories. And maybe I’m even missing a few of the prickle bushes. I have the scratches on my legs to prove it.
In the writers’ life there are many proverbial trip-ups. They come in a constant progression, and sometimes they repeat themselves. Writer’s block. Realization that you’ve spent a month taking your plot in the wrong direction. Rejection. Difficult-to-swallow criticism. Rejection. More rejection.
We can’t let those bumps get in the way of the triumphs. Fixing a plot hole. Finishing a first draft. A request for a partial or a full or a revision. Great feedback. Landing an agent. Give yourself time and credit to enjoy the good, and it’s there, even if it’s just the joy of rereading a scene that you know just rocks. We need to take time to savor the victories.
Of course, I also need to take my own advice! So I will do my damndest. I started on that walk, by watching for the roots but pausing at the spiderwebs. Sometimes you have to look up from the ground and risk falling to take in the view.
Love it!
Thank you! xoxo
Great allegory–and I too often lose sight of the beauty all around me, worried aoubt tripping on the details. I really do need to follow your advice and risk a fall! (p.s. must be *very* exciting to see it all with the newly LASIK-ed eyes!)
Lovely. I’m in-between right now with writing projects…floundering without deadlines, waiting for feedback from editors, waiting for paychecks, waiting, waiting…I’ve never found myself so unfocused. Obviously I need to take your advice.
Hey y’all! I think we all go through these phases. That’s why we need other writers to pump us up.
Nicely said! So proud of you! xoxo
Oh, I love this post! So beautiful and true. We can’t be so afraid to fall that we won’t take the chance to wind our way through new ground. I really needed to hear this, my dear! So thank you. And BTW, “blue dragonflies like winged bits of spun sugar”–OMG, that is gorgeous. Yes, you have to weave that into a book!
Love this post! Very poetic. And so true. Reminders are appreciated and most welcomed. Wish I knew you were in Wash DC! I was there in May for my cousin’s wedding. But then, we had the whole extended family tagging along. And yes, it is beautiful. I love how green it is on that side of the country. Looking at the trees is a definite must. California gets so dry… have to remind myself that’s why it’s called the “Golden State”…
Thanks, Anita! Love it when a metaphor just comes out of no where…I do sort of like that one! I’ll save it.
Kerry– would have loved to catch up in DC! Now, come to South Carolina when I move in a week– that’s a much nicer meet-up venue!
This post made me think of my mom, who, when I was little, always had to remind me to look up. I had this terrible habit of walking around looking at the ground, probably because I was afraid of tripping and falling like you.
It’s interesting how we are so afraid of the risk of falling that we forget the greatest risk of all–missing out on all the beautiful things around us. Thanks for a great reminder
Lovely post, Stephanie. Our children teach us so much, don’t they? They’re little gurus.
Rereading a scene ‘that rocks’ can almost always lift my spirits. And taking time to enjoy the little victories in our writing lives is so important.
Enjoy SC. My daughter is there visiting her grands right now and says it’s hot, but beautiful.
Man, Steph, I just love your writing: “blue dragonflies like winged bits of spun sugar” and “one can catch a glimpse of what it must have been like in the days before the Potomac wrapped its arms around the capital of the free world.” You truly have a gift, and I cannot wait to read The Cracked Slipper. Thanks for all the hours you spent looking at the world in order to know where to place your writer’s feet.
Hope your “lasik-ed” eyes are feeling better! Good post to remind me to glimpse the beauty all around me during this season.
Good luck with your move! I hope it all works out well for you.
Love the reminder to appreciate the good things. So true, and something that’s all too easy to forget.
Great post! I’ve actually drafted a guest post that will go live in August with a very similar “look up” theme. I often lament, when I’m running through the desert on my jogs, that I HAVE to focus on the ground beneath me and to the side of me (in search of rattlers). Because I know I’m missing out. But, I seem to have a knack for stopping at the right times to catch glimpses of things that amaze and inspire me (this morning – a horned lizard and what I think was a black-headed grosbeak!)… Thanks for the reminder to SAVOR the victories, no matter how large or small. Hope the move/packing/planning is going well. The Potomac sounds SO lovely. You had me at “Last of the Mohicans.” (Oh, dear Daniel Day Lewis… ooo la la)
Thanks to everyone who has stopped by to comment! Bad blog hostess that I am, I’ve been MIA w/no internet in moving craziness. I do hope y’all got a little pick-me-up from this post– and everyone remembers this game is a long haul…savor the victories! xoxo
PS– Agreed, Melissa, DDL was quite dreamy in said film…
You may never know how your words touch the hearts of others, so continue spreading the gift that God gives to you. Thank you for sharing.