Why would I waste all this time writing? Well, the hope is that I will make an impression, as I told you in my last post here. But this week I came up with another justification.
Let me explain
And by “explain” I mean let me tell you a story. A few days ago I went looking online for a rebuild kit for the cottage BBQ. I located one finally. Not at the hardware store where I bought the BBQ of course, they don’t deal in that kind of hardware. I found one at the dreaded Amazon. And as luck would have it there were two left.
Did I click “buy now?”
I did not. I put it in my shopping cart and logged out. You see, I don’t buy things without getting clearance from the household purchasing department. So my wife said yes, that I should go ahead and get the kit since we needed it and since I couldn’t source it locally.
Then I forgot
I forgot to log back in and do that ordering thing. But it’s Amazon and I was back on there researching the price of something else a day or two later. I don’t like buying from them but I like to know my options. I checked the stuff in my shopping cart and the rebuild kit was at the bottom of the list. But the funny thing was there was no price beside it. I’d waited too long, it was sold out.
Damn!
I decided I’d keep my eye on it and if nothing happened in the next couple of weeks I’d start a fresh search for what I needed. Now it’s today and we’re at the cottage. I’ve started a new project where I’m taking out some nasty old cupboards in the utility room and replacing them with newer nasty old cupboards.
And what do I find in the cupboards I’m tearing out? An Amazon box with a rebuild kit for the BBQ I must have bought last Autumn.
What does this have to do with writing?
Nothing really. Well, something … sort of. My memory is obviously crap. How could I have gone through this twice and not had any recollection?
While having a conversation with neighbours today, one of them said they enjoyed what I write on Facebook, my daily affirmation that I call “Today I Love.” I reminisced that I used to get paid to write that. And that I used to write ten 500 word posts a week, posts about the size of this one, for an American website.
Then I reminded myself and informed them that when that website was sold to a new organization all the content was taken down and I lost all access.
Both before and after I wrote my affirmations for that company I wrote them on Facebook for friends to read. It’s not all I write. It never was and never will be. But there were tens of thousands of words written in the pursuit of that particular project, and it is ongoing.
I miss the writing I no longer have access to …
But I learned a few lessons. Don’t stop writing. Keep what you write. Revisit what you wrote when you get the opportunity. Refresh your memory whenever you can.
As I said in my last post here, I am a story teller. I’m sharing stories with my son even though he doesn’t understand me yet. But even after I’m gone I hope there are words written down that he can read when he wants to see who his father was.
And the more I write the more I might remember as well. I mean, who needs two rebuild kits for their BBQ? I should have written down somewhere that I’d already bought one. Maybe it’s part of the content that was scrubbed from that infamous website.
