Joyful Writing

Santa is a Baptist Did you know that Santa and Mrs. Claus are Baptist? Neither did Bill nor I, but we learned with joy and delight that he was on our trip to Bryson City, North Carolina a few Decembers ago when we took a mini-vacation to ride the Polar Express. Based on a lovely book and an animated movie (I loved it; Bill did not), we bought our tickets, boarded at the appropriate time and found seats opposite each other near a window. The table between us was decorated in grand holiday style, and the antiquated train had been restored to some of its former glory. The promise of warm cocoa filled the air. The actors and actresses dressed their parts and were charmingly welcoming kids of all ages; the little ones even wearing pajamas, just like in the story. There was singing and with noise and anticipation as the train slowly pulled out of the station, headed toward the North Pole. A couple of the actors took a liking to us and spent time chatting. (We were an unlikely couple on this ...

  We used to frequent a good Chinese buffet; great choices, consistent ownership and service at the time, comfortable atmosphere. At the entryway was the proverbial giant fish tank filled with what you expect tanks to contain. One evening we sat in a booth next to a man obviously waiting for his wife to complete her shift. He had the cutest little girl with him, about four years old. She wore a plaid dress with an oversized white collar. She wanted coins for the gum machine and he said, "no, you have to eat a piece of chicken first." She hopped into the booth, took a bite to satisfy him, then took a quarter to the gumball machine. In the next few minutes, she stopped at our seat, with gum juice running down her face--pink and blue and too large for her little mouth. She chewed a bit, examining our plates. Then she pointed to the fish tank and reported about one of the fish,  floating at the top of the foam. "That one is taking a nap," she announced to us and anyone ...

  He drew a circle that shut me out. Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win;                                          We drew a circle that took him in! My pastor used this years ago when I had a particularly difficult class of students. Since this blog will be used to for writings (mine and others), I thought it appropriate to add to this space.  Again, blogging may not be the way to go for your needs. I have writings in so many places, that I would like to consolidate them. You may find articles that you want to refer to later, or use as a reference for a presentation, or vision sharing.

I can see why people are hesitant to start a blog , especially when they don't use google as their search engine. I have mine written down so you and I both can refer to it. Mine is plain vanilla and I have worked at adding  visual things that make it more appealing. At the same time, I don't want it to be busy with superfluous things. If writing is the heart, then I want it to stand out. I plan to keep it as a reservoir for writings, both mine and some student work I have saved on my hard drive because they had a writer's heart. The first article was written and posted on Facebook. I got so many responses to it, that, as suggested, I edited it somewhat and submitted it to Texas Monthly . We shall see if they accept it or not. The reunion was hard on me emotionally. I did not expect it to be, hence the writing that came from it.