I was at the gym this morning making all the “hot chicks” jealous as I worked out sporting my chemo look. Eat your heart out bitches!!!! I know they want to have my look!! What’s not to love and want!! I looked at myself in the mirror yesterday when suddenly it dawned on me “omg! I look just like Jiminy Cricket!” I went on the Internet and found a picture and sure enough, that was me. The only thing I’m missing is a blue hat, suit, clown shoes & an umbrella but that’s next on my list!!
I like to listen to my YouTube playlist while I work out. My playlist consists of anything and everything. I love all kinds of music. I love jazz, rock, Michael Jackson, KC and the Sunshine Band, Motown, soul and pop. And yes, I’m still a fan of America and Al Stewart. No rap or heavy metal for this girl, though. That type of music makes me nervous. God knows being any more nervous than I already am might just make me explode. For some reason Elvis Costello popped in my mind today while I was looking up music on YouTube. One of my favorite songs is ” Every Day I Write The Book”. For me music holds a specific meaning in my life. It’s interesting how a song can spark a memory or remind me of a significant time or person in my life. Every song has a meaning. I particularly love this Elvis Costello song because it has a catchy and happy beat and it reminds me of my dream to write a book. My dream of writing a book goes back to when I was in Junior High School. I had quite the imagination and had a tendency to write some real doozers in my English class. When I entered high school I was blessed to have an English teacher by the name of Lyle Goble who allowed me to do just that. Write. Lyle was an awesome teacher. He certainly had a huge impact on my life. I’m sure I had one on his also. I drove that poor guy crazy!!! Lyle introduced me to Shakespeare. He used to play the story of MacBeth on his record player during class. I was captivated by Shakespeare. I still am to this day. At times Lyle challenged us to tap in to our imagination and write stories. With an imagination like mine, it didn’t take much prodding to come up with something good. It was through the teachings of Lyle Goble that I developed this dream to one day become a writer.
After high school I took a writing class at the community college. I was blessed to have a real Nancy Negative for an instructor. She shared all the negatives of becoming a writer. One day she shared that even if any of us became successful writers, the chance of earning a living would be slim. She told us that for every book we sold, we would earn a penny. A penny?!! That was the day my dream of becoming a writer was thrown out the window as I drove home in my convertible corvette. I thought to myself I’d make more money finding pennies on the sidewalk! Yet in the back of my mind, I still had the dream stuck in my heart.
Fast forward 30 years later, I still have the same dream, unfortunately life happened and I lost the drive and determination I had so many years ago when I was young and 18. Of course, I’ve never stopped talking about the “book” I’m going to write one day. Several years ago when I was working at the newspaper, we had a young hot shot working with us. I had been at the paper for many years and it was no secret to any of my co workers that I wanted to become a writer. I talked about it all the time. One day I jokingly made the comment “someday when I write my book”……Mr. Hot Shot know it all turned around and said “you keep talking about this book. When are you going to write it?” I was so furious I wanted to tackle him down and kick his ass. Of course I didn’t. But I wanted to. The funny part was, I wasn’t as mad at him for calling me on the carpet as I was with myself for never seeing my dream to fruition.
Despite giving up and not pursuing my dream years ago, I’ve never stopped writing and I’ve never stopped telling stories. When my kids were young, I had a story for everything right down to how I chose their name. I read bedtime stories to my kids but I found it to be so much funner to tell them my own made up story. When my kids had a writing project for class, you could bet I was the first to volunteer to help. I worked hard to help my kids turn in the best story possible. If you’ve been touched to have me in your life, I can bet somewhere in your junk drawer you can find a heartfelt poem or a heartfelt card written especially for you by me. This morning I found a copy of a letter I wrote my daughter 4 years ago when she was 16. I’ve had a copy of it tucked in my bible for all these years. I’ve written to my children, my nephews and I’ve never been short of finding a story to tell in any given situation. I have a story for everything. Too bad my stories aren’t written in the book I should’ve written years ago.
I’ve been sharing my personal story on Facebook and in real life for years. My life is interesting. One of my girlfriends made this comment the other day about my life. She said “you can’t make this shit up!” I had to laugh. She was right. I’ve shared my ups. I’ve shared my downs. I’ve made people laugh and I’ve made people cry. My life is similar to the movie Ed TV only the name of my movie is Velma TV. My life is always filled with so much adventure, drama, comedy, romance gone bad, romance gone good, illness, grief, addiction, heartache….the list goes on. Life is uncertain for me but if there’s one thing I can count on, every day I have a new story. You never know what adventure Velma TV will bring. I’ve shared the adventure with everyone on the pages of Facebook, in person and now I’m blogging. I have so many friends. I haven’t accomplished my dream of writing a book but I’m ok with that. After all like the song every day I write my book and I get to share it with everyone who takes the time to listen.
As I listened to Elvis belt out my favorite song it occurred to me that I haven’t seen my dream to fruition….. but every morning when I open my eyes and I embark on tackling my day of uncertainty, one things for sure “every day I write my book”. Who knows, maybe someday I will write my book and with any luck I’ll make more than a penny!!!
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