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breaking the silence and what I learned/did in October

November 1, 2013 By Sandra Heska King

October near Marquette

 

Oh my goodness, I’ve missed meeting you all in this space! And I’m so grateful to Patricia over at Pollywog Creek for graciously hosting Still Saturday this last month. We’ll be moving back here tomorrow.

While I longed to join the others writing on one topic every single day throughout October, I decided instead to not only not participate, but to step away. And honestly, I was afraid. I was afraid I might lose you. But oh how I needed this time.

So today, I’m going to join Emily Freeman and others over at Chatting at the Sky and share some of the things I learned–and did–during my time away.

October 2013

1. I learned that blog breaks really are important in order to rest and refocus and re-vision. (I typed that first as revision, and maybe both ways fit.)

2. I learned that empty space sucks in other stuff like water through a punctured dike, and we have to stick a finger in that hole of filling while we undergo spirit repair.

3. I discovered that though blog visitation and viewings decreased (sounds like a funeral, right?), followers and email subscriptions increased. I’m not sure what to make of that.

4. I learned that mushrooms are really only the flower of what grows underground–and that the main body can spread for acres. I had this vision of a fungus bursting through and gobbling up a whole town.

5. I learned that I’m raising fun but introverted pups who may be too much tied to my apron strings. I’ve thought they might make good therapy dogs, so we are in training two nights a week.

6. I learned to differentiate between forgiveness and reconciliation. Thank you, Diana Trautwein.

7. I learned I don’t much care for Renaissance festivals and how overwhelmed I am with noise and chaos. Well, I really learned that in September, but I wrote about it on October 1. This blog went silent, but I did continue to write over at BibleDude.

October Lake Superior

8. I gutted and cleaned a room that’s served as a storage room, a walk-in closet, a craft room, a nursery, and a dump-every-thing-here-so-you-can’t-even-open-the-door room. I learned (again) that it doesn’t take that long to do anything if you put your mind to and muscle into it. I set up the rollaway bed in there so my 38-inch-tall grandgirl no longer has to fold herself into a Pack-n-Play in my writing room when she visits.

9. My husband and I took a short trip to the Upper Peninsula and were dazzled by the fall colors. I learned I have a teeny bit of rebel in me because we ignored (along with hundreds of others) the orange cones placed to obstruct entrance to a national park–though my courage collapsed in the face of actual barriers informing us that only “authorized” vehicles were allowed in a certain wildlife refuge.

10. I reclaimed my writing room and learned I still have one suitcase filled with odds and ends from 2011 when my mom was in hospice. I moved it to my bedroom. I still haven’t emptied it.

11. I made several trips to Goodwill and learned that the more things I let go, the easier it is to let things go.

12. I learned that God has a sense of humor. The piece I wrote on wordlessness for Jennifer Lee’s #TellHisStory Featured Writer series posted in October, my wordless month.

13. I learned that you can spill some dark secrets to some trusted friends and still find love.

14. And I signed up to write a 50,000-word novel in a month through My Book Therapy. I’ve already learned that I may have bitten off more than I can chew.

October color

Because I didn’t post teasers this month, here are the links to what I did write.

In Which I Pursue Wordlessness for Jennifer Dukes Lee

When You’re Overcome by Noise for BibleDude.net

Of Waterfalls, Honey and Mushrooms for BibleDude.net

Eyes of Mercy for BibleDude.net

When You Find it Hard to Forgive for BibleDude.net

 

What did you learn/do during this month?

Stilled and ready,

Sandy

 

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Filed Under: stories and reflections

Comments

  1. Duane Scott says

    November 1, 2013 at 12:55 pm

    Glad you’re back!

    • Sandra Heska King says

      November 1, 2013 at 1:05 pm

      Glad I didn’t lose you!

      • Linda says

        November 1, 2013 at 8:03 pm

        I missed you., but I can see it was a good time for you.
        I’m excited about your novel. I have 48,000 words written on a mystery. Could we encourage each other? I wish I was going to Laity. Our daughter will be coming home and I really need to be here for her. My heart will be there.

        • Sandra Heska King says

          November 1, 2013 at 10:26 pm

          Oh, Linda. I wish so much you could go, but yes, you need to be with your girl.

          Did I know you were writing a mystery??? That’s super awesome! I need to head over to your place and see what I’ve missed. Indeed, we can encourage each other. I’m starting with zero words, because what few I had–I tore up. 😉

  2. Carol J. Garvin says

    November 1, 2013 at 2:53 pm

    Welcome back! 🙂

    I think the many facets of technology and social media have crept up and taken over huge chunks of our lives. Only if we put their influences aside occasionally do we realize the impact they’ve been having. My time at our wilderness cabin helps me do that. I’m totally unplugged there whether I want to be or not.

    I’m usually bad about making time to evaluate and plan, but I instinctively know when I have to rest. I recognize when I’m teetering and need to step back from life’s commitments and demands. I had a nervous breakdown of sorts many years ago and it frightened me enough to vow I would never let myself reach that point again.

    I hope you’re feeling well refreshed, although I think you have a very busy life at the best of times. I’m off to check out those links to the articles that I missed reading.

    • Sandra Heska King says

      November 1, 2013 at 10:32 pm

      I love the connections I’ve made and relationships I’ve developed through blogging and social media–like you. I could never have imagined. But occasional vacations, I’ve discovered, are so important. I didn’t go completely dark, but I can see how I might also choose to do that for a short season.

      And just breathing in the thought of a wilderness cabin makes me relaxed and happy. I’m so glad you have that to escape to.

  3. Melanie says

    November 1, 2013 at 10:33 pm

    I smiled when I saw this post come across. Grateful for your break. Grateful you are back.

  4. Ann Kroeker says

    November 2, 2013 at 10:34 am

    I learned–well, just confirmed–that you have a strong voice that is just getting warmed up both in what you want to say and how you want to say. Can’t wait to see what happens this month of NaNoWriMo and how you explore this writing life more deeply.

  5. Janel says

    November 2, 2013 at 11:07 am

    Welcome back dear Sandra.
    I am glad that you have been able to share with us what was learned on your sabbatical away from this space, to refresh and renew and revision this space and your journey.
    How goes your preparation for your trip to Haiti
    Janel

  6. Sharon O says

    November 2, 2013 at 11:52 am

    This internet world is so different. The friends made but never met, the prayers prayed over those we don’t know but feel we know. You were missed but we knew you were ‘in process and that is always a good thing. Glad you have returned.

  7. Martha Orlando says

    November 2, 2013 at 12:32 pm

    So glad you are back, Sandy!
    You inspired me to do the same; I’ve not been blogging for a few weeks now, and haven’t given myself a set deadline as to when I will resume. Thanks for giving me the inspiration to try it out. 🙂
    Blessings to you!

  8. juliana says

    November 2, 2013 at 1:22 pm

    Welcome back!

  9. Dea says

    November 2, 2013 at 4:29 pm

    I have considering writing a post about what I have learned this week! It’s been mind-boggling for me. Glad you back and loved finding you in my email box since I don’t have you in a little box on my Google homepage. I think they are trying to force me into using Chrome which I probably should but I am feeling like a 3 year who is strong-willed and not going to budge. 🙂

    So thankful for your encouragement in my life this week. Can’t express how much it means to me.

  10. Diana Trautwein says

    November 2, 2013 at 4:33 pm

    Welcome home, Sandy. It was good to take a break (of sorts), but it’s also good to have you back. And thanks for the shout-out. Many blessings as you plow through this novel-writing month. I cannot imagine it!!

  11. Terri Tiffany says

    November 2, 2013 at 4:45 pm

    Welcome back! I learned how many good friends I really have in October!

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I tossed and turned all night. And then the storm I tossed and turned all night. And then the storm started. I finally got up about 5ish and sat outside to watch. Until a couple mosquitoes found me. Also, the jasmine hadn’t gone to bed yet and smelled heavenly.
Sunday evening. That is all. Sunday evening. That is all.
“The news is not and never has been, because it “The news is not and never has been, because it doesn’t talk about the small moments. Moments that matter to individuals, whatever they do or do not do in the grand scheme of things. And it is in those individual moments that belong to people, that deserve to be faced and remembered as much as every big, world-changing disaster. And nature, because it exists in the details, is too easy to elide, even when trying to talk about it.” ~ Sara Barkat in her introduction to Earth Song: A Nature Poems Experience
🍃
I had to look up “elide.” It’s not a typo. 😊
🍃
Sara goes on to write, “The structure of this book is that of a piece of music. The poems are to be read in order…”
🍃
The first poem she includes is Sara Teasdale’s “Lost Things” that starts, “”Oh, I could let the world go by / It’s loud new wonders and it’s wars / But how will I give up the sky…”
🍃
Good morning sky. Good morning moon. Good morning little bird flying to the moon. Good morning red bottlebrushes nodding in the breeze. It’s good to emerge from this Covid fog. Day 10.
“Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to “Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to be understood. . . Let me keep company always with those who say “Look!” and laugh in astonishment and bow their heads.” ~ Mary Oliver in “Mysteries, Yes”
🌱
No way could anyone ever convince me that this world in all its beauty and creativity and mysteries is here by accident.
Food truck night with a newcomer—@crepstick. So Food truck night with a newcomer—@crepstick. So yummy! I hope they come back.  But maybe not too often or I’ll have to do double time on the exercise.
“Embrace this day knowing and showing the world “Embrace this day knowing and showing the world that your God is more than enough for you.”
🌿
@tamiheim @tonibirdsong 
In @stickyJesus: How to Live Out Your Faith Online
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the str My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion.” Psalm 73:26 (ESV)
🌿
I’d almost forgotten what quiet mornings on the patio were like. (Quiet except for the birds and the sound of the neighbor’s AC.)
So yesterday I saw my cardiologist. It was the fir So yesterday I saw my cardiologist. It was the first time he wanted to see me in 6 months instead of a year. He said my aortic stenosis had gotten worse. Like on the cusp of moderate to severe. 😬

So the first thing he asks me is, "How's you daughter?" Wait. Isn't this supposed to be about ME?

Then he asks if I've had any symptoms. "Well, I don't know. Maybe. I felt a little dizzy out of the blue a couple times. And felt like I couldn't catch my breath. I wouldn't have paid any attention if I didn't know I was supposed to be watching for symptoms. I DID walk all over Israel and up a bunch of steep hills, even all the way up to the Golan Heights--against the wind--without anything but normal fatigue.

He laughs. "I created a monster." Ummm, yeah.

"Have you been exercising?" 

"Well, yeah. We walk a couple miles a day. I'm back on my Nordictrack Strider." I didn't tell him I'd been lifting some light weights and some very heavy boxes and other items during this renovation, though I was told in December not to.

So he listens to the beating of my heart. Then he says, "Well, I don't think the valve is ripe yet. I don't expect you to have symptoms for three or four years. You don't need to come back for a year."

Wait! So you ask if I have symptoms. But you don't expect symptoms--yet. And when I do have symptoms, someone is gonna do something. And then I'll be older and maybe weaker. Or what if I have some sudden and silent symptom and boom! And now I have to worry about that. 

(In other news, my oldest grand texts me the other day, and our conversation runs like this... (continued in comments)
Last weekend we were in northern Michigan. And the Last weekend we were in northern Michigan. And there were lilacs. They even shook their heads over tornado-induced devastation. Look for the beauty and sweet scents in the midst of the mess. I miss the lilacs.
Yesterday’s morning view. We haven’t seen the Yesterday’s morning view. We haven’t seen the sun all day today.
When the folks in my hometown of Gaylord, Michigan When the folks in my hometown of Gaylord, Michigan ate their breakfast Friday morning, they had no idea what terror and devastation they'd face before dinner. Everyone has a story. You've probably seen pictures.

If not, take a peek at @mlivenews .

My great-nephew, not quite 12, had just gotten home from school when the EF-3 came down the street and left its mark on every home. My niece frantically tried to find her way from work through debris and blocked roads. My sister was 30 miles away visiting my dad in rehab. I don't want to know how fast my brother-in-law drove. 

The house and yard took a hit, worse than some, not as bad as others. A mobile home park was demolished--two deaths there. I heard one person is still missing. So many injured. So much awful. But the town is coming together for each other. Pray for them.

We plan to fly up Thursday--already planned to celebrate my dad's 95th birthday. 

Also, if anyone feels led to help, the Otsego Community Foundation and Otsego County United Way are accepting donations. Note “Tornado Relief.” Beware of any other fundraising requests.
Cutting tonight’s walk short. Stupid blue jay. N Cutting tonight’s walk short. Stupid blue jay. Not this one. A different one. But still. (My niece believes blue jays are a visitation from Grandma—my mom.) 
My shirt says “Walk in love. But I’m not feeling very loving. And if it WAS my Mom AKA Mother Mary Esther of the Order of Perpetual Birdwatchers, I’ll bet she’s having a good laugh. A passerby said she heard it was good luck and I should buy a lottery ticket tonight. In other news, I also banged my hip bone against our bed’s footboard and gave myself a mighty bruise. Then I burned my arm on the top of the grill. I did manage to wash all the knives without cutting myself and didn’t start any fires. So how was your day?
And now… “From the rising of the sun to the pl And now… “From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.”
The world’s a mess, but His mercies are new. The world’s a mess, but His mercies are new.
When we were in Israel last month, we visited @yad When we were in Israel last month, we visited @yadvashem - the World Holocaust Center in Jerusalem. There wasn't enough time to spend nearly enough time. 

The Valley of the Communities was very moving. It's a labyrinth of stone from which there seems no way out. Our guide said It gives an idea of the endlessness of the horror. His parents emigrated from Vilna (the Jerusalem of Lithuania), before the Holocaust. In 1935, thirteen of his family members still remained there. By 1945 only one--an uncle--had survived. He wrote a book about them from a bundle of old letters. "One story out of millions."

"This memorial commemorates the Jewish communities destroyed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, and the few which suffered but survived in the shadow of the Holocaust."
#Israel2022 #HolocaustRemembranceDay
“From my favorite spot on the floor, I look up a “From my favorite spot on the floor, I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree on whose branches little raindrops shine, appearing like silver, ” Anne Frank wrote in the Diary of a Young Girl. Watching the tree change through the seasons her family spent in hiding in an attic gave her hope. The Holocaust Memorial Center is one of only eleven sites in the United States to receive a sapling from that tree. I stand at “her” window and imagine hanging hope on a tree.

"It happened, therefore it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say. It can happen, and it can happen everywhere.” ~ Primo Levi

From a post I wrote for @tspoetry after a visit to the @holocaustcenter.

https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2016/07/27/regional-tour-holocaust-memorial-center-farmington-hills-michigan/
Stunning tree I parked near at Bible study yesterd Stunning tree I parked near at Bible study yesterday. I was in a rush and failed to snap the whole tree. I need to run back before the flowers fall. I think it’s a jacaranda? I want one.
Speaking of birds... bluejay in my backyard this a Speaking of birds... bluejay in my backyard this afternoon. I thought he was hurt, but I think he was just trying to cool off. (Maybe it's a young one.... unless it's the light?)
Someone should do something about that dog. She’ Someone should do something about that dog. She’s yelping and carrying on like she’s in some awful pain.
“Now in the place where he was crucified there w “Now in the place where he was crucified there was a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.” ~ John 19:41

“But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay…’”~ Matthew 28:5-6

Many wonder if this tomb, which lies just a few yards west of Golgotha could be the place where Jesus lay and rose. I wish we could have lingered longer here in this garden and in the tomb itself. It was easier for me to imagine the events of that weekend happening here than in the heavily incensed, decorated, dark and crowded Church of the Holy Sepulchre… though my hairdresser said her old boyfriend “got chills”’when he entered that tomb. We did not go inside that one because the line was way too long. 

At any rate, the most important thing is that he tomb is EMPTY and HE IS RISEN!

HAPPY EASTER!
#Israel2022 #GardenTomb #Easter
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