September 28, 2009

An Epiphany
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a recording of John Denver singing Rocky Mountain High without thinking about the first words of the melody. Last week they struck me. Having lived in Colorado during the time John sang his most popular tunes I found myself captivated, like he was, by the majesty of the snow capped Rockies.
The song begins: “… born in the summer of his 27th year, coming home to a place he’d never been before.” Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr had what miight be called an Epiphany when he arrived in Colorado at age twenty seven. It changed his life. It changed his song writing. He says a lot in those two terse pharases.
Those experiences are like lighthouses in the fog shrouded day after day of routine living. They lift us above the drab and give guidance to life.
I know my epiphanies. When I fell in love, when my children were born and when I realized I’d became a spinner of stories. Now, I’m waiting for the next blazing moment to intersect my life. I’m sure there’ll be one. Maybe it’ll be a story line that won’t quit, or an e-mail from my agent. For the some of my writing that’s ordinary fare check out my web site at: http://www.bobwhite4stories.com .
Until next time, that’s it from the Storyman

September 21, 2009

Chasing Peacocks

The other evening while watching the idiot box I was entranced by this ad for some joint medication – no not that kind of joint – medication for arthritic knees. A fictional couple had cast aside the corporate life to buy and operate a Bed and Breakfast. They said they wanted to exchange the rat race for the peacock race. One clip showed them running up the stairs for the umptillionth time that day to chase a peacock from one of the guest rooms. I never did see them succeed.
It took me three times to successfully shuck the corporate life. I now find myself with the time to chase peacocks. I have more time for my writing. (Check out my web-site at:http://www.bobwhite4stories.com/) There is now time to travel and indulge the parts of life that provide pleasure and satisfaction without straining to make some employer or client satisfied. I’ve discovered I can indulge myself with great gobs of time; taking two hours to do what I used to cram into thirty minutes. This might be a little of what heaven is like. Time to chase a peacock.
Then an odd thought struck me… isn’t this what the generation of the 60’s and 70’s tried to do. Ahhh…. Three days of nirvana and bedlam at Woodstock. Yeah, there was sex and drugs with the rock and roll, but there was also freedom. Freedom to chase peacocks.
Until next time, that’s it from the

Storyman….

What is it about a cat?

This summer instead of taking a trip to Europe we added to our family with a feline adoption. It has been about a year since we had to take our beloved twenty-two pound black cat to the vet and have him put to sleep. Over the course of more than fifteen years he wedged his way into our hearts. He had always been fiercely independent and the direct opposite of a 'lap cat', but loyal without question. Our grieving over his loss took some time, but Loa and I looked at each other one day and knew it was time. We'd never be able to replace him but we needed another pet. So... we took a test on the Internet to see what kind of a dog would fit with our personalities. The answer was to get a cat. So the hunt began.
We scoured the ads in the paper, looked for kittens in front of the supermarket, visited animal shelters and the pet stores. Somehow we always returned from our search empty handed and with a growing hole in our hearts. One day Loa found an ad in the local advertising paper that clutters our mailbox on a weekly basis. A nearby family had five kittens. The mother cat was only a year old and it seemed the eight-week-old kittens where sucking the life from her. She needed a rest. Then we had to choose. Impossible. We brought two home. It took a couple of weeks until we found names that stuck. Tigger (thanks A. A. Milne) and Hal (short for Halloween).
Animals are so wonderful in their interaction with human beings. They give unquestioned affection and ask little in return. Well, Hal is pretty demanding about getting lots of affection. In a short time we've become more attached than I though possible. They have such different personalities, just like children in the same family. Tigger is already much larger, but at the vet we found Hal weighed one more ounce. Hal is also the aggressor with it comes to the kind of play that all kittens have with each other.
I realize this month's blog is not into much about our nature as human beings, but this experience has taught me again how wonderful God's creatures are and that even the smallest can create within us the powerful emotions of love and afection.