Back?
A few days ago I had a conversation with my Uncle Todd in which he said he's been feeling something that's been weighing on me lately too. We both feel like things still aren't quite "normal," aren't quite "right" since the hurricane. Where we live, in St. Charles Parish, things are about as normal as you can get this close to New Orleans. Our utilities are all back, most of the stores in the parish are open again (although many with abbreviated hours). Mail service has returned, although it's only coming in at a trickle for some reason. Even UPS, according to their website, is going to start delivering again.
But still, we couldn't shake the feeling like there was still something "off," something "missing."
In his case, he felt like his daughter Kati has something to do with it. Kati needs to use the Internet for her job as a transcriptionist, and since our internet service was wonky for a while there, she's been staying with friends in Alexandria. Uncle Todd said that he thought, perhaps, he just wouldn't feel back to normal until she was home.
For me, it's my writing. I hate to admit it, but I haven't been adhering to my page-a-day rule lately. While the storm was raging and in the immediate aftermath, it seemed kind of trivial. Now that things are settled and I NEED something like that in my life, for many reasons, it's been hard. I haven't been able to get the words to flow. I stare at the page and nothing was coming out. And I don't mean things like this journal, the newspaper, my columns... that's all coming as usual. But my real work -- the book and play I'm working on. Nothing was coming. And the question for me, at least, was this: Could I not write because things aren't back to "normal," or were things not "normal" because I couldn't write?
Then yesterday, I got out a full page and a half of The Light Man.
And it came easily.
And it felt really, really good.
Am I back? I don't know. Ask me later if I managed to duplicate this feat today. But for the moment, I feel like I'm at least back on track.
Let's just hope Rita doesn't decide to turn north and knock us all off again.
But still, we couldn't shake the feeling like there was still something "off," something "missing."
In his case, he felt like his daughter Kati has something to do with it. Kati needs to use the Internet for her job as a transcriptionist, and since our internet service was wonky for a while there, she's been staying with friends in Alexandria. Uncle Todd said that he thought, perhaps, he just wouldn't feel back to normal until she was home.
For me, it's my writing. I hate to admit it, but I haven't been adhering to my page-a-day rule lately. While the storm was raging and in the immediate aftermath, it seemed kind of trivial. Now that things are settled and I NEED something like that in my life, for many reasons, it's been hard. I haven't been able to get the words to flow. I stare at the page and nothing was coming out. And I don't mean things like this journal, the newspaper, my columns... that's all coming as usual. But my real work -- the book and play I'm working on. Nothing was coming. And the question for me, at least, was this: Could I not write because things aren't back to "normal," or were things not "normal" because I couldn't write?
Then yesterday, I got out a full page and a half of The Light Man.
And it came easily.
And it felt really, really good.
Am I back? I don't know. Ask me later if I managed to duplicate this feat today. But for the moment, I feel like I'm at least back on track.
Let's just hope Rita doesn't decide to turn north and knock us all off again.