Once upon a time...

I'm on a mission this weekend to reconnect with my long neglected internet "friends" and a few writing projects. 

WRITING? what's writing??? 

Yes it has seemed like a distant memory or foggy dream, lately. Did I really used to write, or did I just "dream" about writing and it seemed like I did? Well, you can't imagine how thankful I am to have a small token of proof lying here in cyberspace to remind me that I haven't lost my mind (yet). That once upon a time... in a land far away... writing really WAS the order of the day! Ok, well that's corny, but hey, I'm a little rusty and drifting here. 

Oh, and then there was reading, that always fought in line. 

READING? what's reading??? I've been dawdling through the stack on my bedside table, for some time now, no matter how loud they seem to call. 

In fact, the only call I've been able to answer lately might be termed the CALL of the WILD. The WILDERNESS that is. OK, so I'm sounding sappy again, but you know those places in life that take you far away from everything you recognize as familiar? Well, that's where I've been. It's isolated and lonely, beautiful, serene, rugged, exhausting, ruthless, and constantly lashing at my innermost core. 

I live in the country, near the edge of "wild" areas of land. They're wonderful to admire from a civilized distance. Yet tucked safe inside my warm and cozy, every-amenity home, I've learned plenty about life in the wilderness. It can burst right in at times and simply carry you away... the loss of a job, a suffering child, volatile relationships, death, irrevocable change, illness, fear, frailty, fatigue, disappointment, mere oversight, or natural disaster. 

Though I'm currently living in the "outback" of prolonged circumstances that still threaten the destruction of a beloved way of life, others I hold dear are suffering much worse conditions. And yet they inspire me. They breathe gently on the embers that glow and keep me warm. Shaken out of a stupor, I kneel to do the same. Chill gone, I venture into the night and replenish the store of kindling. The fire grows. The wilderness shrinks. Flames crackle and dance, reaching up toward the stars. Familiarity surrounds me in the dark, and a new and crazy way of life becomes yet another adventure. 

Enough pent up symbolism? Alright, well you get the idea of where I've been lately...little reading... less writing... fairly active imagination... challenging, yet enriching time in life.

Anyhow, here I am. Just warming up the keyboard. Happy to put a few words on the screen. Beginning, again...