Of Home and Hearth and Family
Valentine's Day is right around the corner. It's supposed to be for lovers, but I've always seen it as a special time to let everyone who's a part of my life know how much I love and appreciate them. I wish I still had living parents. I always sent them cards and called them.
When it comes right down to it, life is an incredible gift. None of us have a crystal ball, so we don't really have any idea how much time we'll have in this life. The only hedge against that particular unknown is to borrow a concept from Eastern philosophy: Live as though death sat on your shoulder.
What that means is to not blindly assume we'll have time to say we're sorry or to make up for being rude or intolerant or nasty. Whenever someone bothers me, I try to look through their eyes. I can almost always find compassion for who they are. That's become increasingly important as my writing has reached a wider audience. Amongst the group, there are always naysayers.
While I may feel sad my writing didn't resonate for them, nowhere in my wildest expectations did I think everyone who read my fiction would like it. John Locke, a successful independent author who recently signed with St. Martin put it quite well. Those who liked his writing were OOS (One of Us).
How about you. Who's special to you? When's the last time you told them how much you cared? This next question is harder. If you could go back and undo something, what would it be? It's not as difficult as all that, unless the person's no longer on that side of the veil.
What I see a lot of of is someone waiting for the other person to apologize. Pride never buys much. Neither does insisting on being "right." The problem with being right is it means someone else is wrong and the relationship with them suffers. Time is a valuable commodity. None of us lives forever. I don't know about you, but when I'm a very old woman looking back on my life, I'd rather not examine a lot of things I feel bad about not doing.
So, how about it? Who will you say, "I love you," to on Valentine's Day? Down deep, we're all the same. We all want to be loved, valued, and appreciated.
What that means is to not blindly assume we'll have time to say we're sorry or to make up for being rude or intolerant or nasty. Whenever someone bothers me, I try to look through their eyes. I can almost always find compassion for who they are. That's become increasingly important as my writing has reached a wider audience. Amongst the group, there are always naysayers.
While I may feel sad my writing didn't resonate for them, nowhere in my wildest expectations did I think everyone who read my fiction would like it. John Locke, a successful independent author who recently signed with St. Martin put it quite well. Those who liked his writing were OOS (One of Us).
How about you. Who's special to you? When's the last time you told them how much you cared? This next question is harder. If you could go back and undo something, what would it be? It's not as difficult as all that, unless the person's no longer on that side of the veil.
What I see a lot of of is someone waiting for the other person to apologize. Pride never buys much. Neither does insisting on being "right." The problem with being right is it means someone else is wrong and the relationship with them suffers. Time is a valuable commodity. None of us lives forever. I don't know about you, but when I'm a very old woman looking back on my life, I'd rather not examine a lot of things I feel bad about not doing.
So, how about it? Who will you say, "I love you," to on Valentine's Day? Down deep, we're all the same. We all want to be loved, valued, and appreciated.
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