Grateful and Optimistic

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It’s now been almost two weeks since I tore my calf muscle playing tennis with my son. When it first happened, I was pretty bummed out. I’d been looking forward to starting off the new year being more active and healthy. To have my plans ruined only three days in was disappointing to say the least.

It was also just another reminder that I’m getting old. The doctor told me next time be sure to warm-up, stretch, and hydrate before doing any exercise. I guess it’s time to accept that I’m not young anymore.

But luckily, as mentioned in my last post, there was a silver lining. I now had an excuse to work from home for a few weeks. I mainly saw this as an opportunity to spend more time writing since I’d no longer have to spend hours each day on the road commuting to and from work. I thought being stuck inside most of the time was going to be a drag, but it’s been downright pleasant. What I’ve enjoyed the most is the quiet. As I sit here writing this in between Zoom meetings, I can hear the sound of birds outside, and distant cars passing by, and it’s surprising how much of a calming effect it’s had on me. All the kids are at school, the wife is out running errands, so it’s just me and the quiet, which I never get to experience on the weekends.

Maybe this is why I’m feeling so grateful and optimistic right now. I know how blessed I am. Yes, I’m getting old, my body is wearing down, and I still have to toil away to pay the bills and keep a roof over our heads, but it’s nice to have experienced these past couple of weeks, with another week to go, and knowing that the writer’s life is the one I want.

But of course the only reason I can appreciate the quiet is because I know that in a few hours, the house and the neighborhood will soon be noisy with the sound of children playing, or maybe my wife asking me to do her some favor, or her cooking our family’s next meal. I’m not saying that I didn’t appreciate my family before, but I feel like these last couple of weeks have given me the opportunity to appreciate them so much more. Maybe it’s because I have a lot more time for myself these days, allowing me to be more generous with my time for others.

As for the source of my optimism? I guess it has to do with my book. I really feel like I’m actually going to finish this time. The extra time I’ve been given by not having to go into the office has been a huge help. It’s almost like tearing my calf happened for a reason.

Don’t worry, I’m not counting on my book being a best seller or anything, but I wouldn’t be writing it if I didn’t think it could be something I’m genuinely proud of. And considering how long I’ve been chasing this dream, merely finishing and saying I accomplished my goal would give me a tremendous amount of satisfaction.

In case you’re curious about my progress, I’m getting pretty close to finishing the draft I promised to deliver to my thirteen year old so he could read it and offer me feedback. My ten year old has been reading a chapter at a time, and he’s liked it so far, but he’s such a sweet kid that he probably would tell me that no matter what he thought of it. Anyway, the plan is to have a readable draft ready for my oldest by the end of this month, and he’s a lot less sweet than my youngest so that’ll be the true test. Assuming he doesn’t find any major flaws, then I figure it will take several more months to go through the entire thing to improve the prose and have it really sing.

That’s it for now. The goal is to post something new at least once a week. If you have any suggestions on what to write about next, feel free to leave a comment. It could be a review, my thoughts on eCash, whatever you want. As always, thanks for reading, and hope you have a wonderful weekend.