SAILING THE SEAS WITH EYES GONE FUZZY

I’ve been out to sea for awhile (literally, for we have been on a cruise) and, before that, spent several weeks with appointments to determine what was going on with my loss of vision. That’s a very scary thing for a writer and one who loves to read as much as I do. It turns out the “small” cataracts are not so small anymore and both need to come off. The left eye will go under the knife on April 7 and then, as my surgeon says, you will probably go a little nuts (nuttier than I already am I think he actually meant) with one good eye and one bad until the next one cataract is removed.

The thought of losing my sight has certainly put the brain to working. It tells me I should appreciate this lovely world around me; all the writing I have been putting off for a “better, more convenient time” needs to be done, and I need to laugh and love more. Maybe I can’t give all the credit to this diagnosis of lost sight though. It might have something to do with my leaving the stressful Board I was on, finding in less than a month’s time how relieved I am, how much more free I feel, how open to new writing paths I am now, and what a joy it is to not have a “meeting” called at the drop of a hat. There iS a good life out there and I have been missing part of it for more than two years.

So this is just a short note to encourage all of you to look at your life—are you volunteering (or working) too much, have you scheduled some time for yourself to kick back and daydream, and have you finally made it clear to your family (or yourself) that this craft of writing means a great deal to you and you must have the freedom to pursue it? If any of these things are missing from your life, set them in motion. Life is short. The writing muse doesn’t hang around forever. Make time to follow your dreams.