Writing While Staying Open to Life's Possibilities

Some days this writing stuff is a challenge.  I started carrying around a little notebook, trying to capture ideas I can turn into essays like this one.  The challenge is being able to read the things I jotted down when the thought struck.  I haven't even looked this time, I was hoping for a more spontaneous inspiration.  Still waiting.

On Wednesday of this week, I got up a little early to go to the gym.   It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  I noticed something odd.  For at least 55 years, I have experienced some little tingle of anticipation on that Wednesday.  Four days off in a row!  Today, there was nothing.  I knew I had as many days off as I want (retired, you know).  

Please Note: I didn't count first grade, I probably liked school too much that year because I liked Sister Dorothy.  Fact is, I don't remember for certain which grade this first came up, all I know is that by second grade we had a negative nickname for our teacher.  Sister Mary Borgia was "Bubblegum Borgia" as she was always working her jaw as if she were chewing gum--probably swallowing her own dismay at how far we had to go in the short year she had with us.

Had she known some of what others before her had discovered, she might not have felt the need to swallow her frustration.  My sense, even at that age, was that she saw patience as something along the lines of waiting for all these pupils (that was the word back then, not students) to align with what she expected.  She had the old "wait and see" kind of patience, followed closely by the wish to "get this over with."  Hence, the chewing; she had to go through this year after year.  How much more fun could her existence have been if she had decided to "just be there."  If she had only decided to be open to whatever came her way,  If she had avoided creating fixed expectations about her pupils and their behavior, she might not have gotten so worked up.  Oh, I know she got worked up some times.  She was also the first teacher to administer corporal punishment in the classroom.  Nothing too serious, but we could all have enjoyed that year a little more if she had a different view of patience.  

You see, if she had no set idea of what was supposed to happen, she might not have gotten stuck on things not happening in the specific time frame she wanted.  Instead, she might have tried just being there, open to life's possibilities.  Second grade, and life itself are far better if we stay open to what is possible, not chained to what is expected.  Second graders can be fun, I think.  So employing a different kind of patience might make life different somehow.  It even leaves you open to new ideas about what to write about.