Just writing
01.26.06 (6:25 am) [edit]Writing for me is an adventure. On my last post I started off with a simple trip to the VA hospital, and then it ended up in a rant of some sort. When I sit down to write sometimes I really don’t know what is going to come out, in fact sometimes emotions arise that were somewhat hidden until I started down the path of writing a particular piece. It seems that as I, and I guess as others write, the mind starts to bring in other parts of the puzzle that makes us all up, and tries to make some sense of the inner chaos that is often how I experience myself. Writing is starting to become a sort of mediation exercise for me, allowing me to find some rest, after what I guess I need to express is out there.
I can remember how it was with the family when I was a young boy. There were many of us (4 girls and 6 boys), and being a talkative and loud tribe, we each had to think fast in order to throw back a good come back, or else to simply back up some point trying to be communicated; to slow down was to be lost in the tide of give and take. Friends used to come over to meet the family and later told me that they could not follow most of what we were talking about, since it was done with such rapidity. I suppose this is a common experience with those from a large family. As I get older though this can become a liability, since when talking with others, this kind of “family speak” can be a hindrance to actual communication. To really listen, especially to someone I don’t know that well, can only be accomplished by me if I slow way down and don’t try to think ahead of the one communicating with me. So writing is helping me do that, I have to slow down a little when I am writing, also go over what I typed before I send it, this is helping me to do that when I am speaking to others.
Like I said above, my family is a loud boisterous group, who likes being in each others company, and we tend to get closer as we age, being separated by large distances actually might help; we don’t take each other for granted. It is funny that when we get together we again act like teenagers with each other, it can be a lot of fun, but sometimes the old arguments come up, which can be fun also, at least most of the time. Oh well ya’all know what families are like.
Like this post, I had no idea what I was gong to write about, I just started and this came up. I like it actually, though perhaps for some it can be boring reading. In any case I am thankful that I started to write late in life. Perhaps if I started when younger I would have nothing to write about.