Join me at Bookstock 24. Meet and greet 60 local authors. Enjoy author talks and book signings, live music, choir performances, food trucks, face painting, and more. It promises to be a special time for the whole family, so we hope to see you all there!

Saturday, April 6, 2024 11a.m. – 3 p.m.
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, Memphis TN)
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3/16/2018

Never Say Never #mfrwauthor

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Week 11, that means the third month is almost done. Nine more to go. If you're a James Bond fan you might remember  "Never Say Never Again." No matter how much we swear not to do something, life is not always under our control. I was going to write about several moments in my life that I would not want to repeat: planning the funeral of a family member, watching the towers fall, and from my professional life reliving the destruction of two projects each of which represented decades worth of work. One project ended because another author published a similar book and his collection of artifacts was more impressive. The other project died because the new leader of the organization denied history existed before him and since the anniversary wasn't about him, he unilaterally cancelled everything.

But the official topic was "If I Never Had To Do This One Task Again." So I will focus on the word "task." A task I will gladly say "never again will I" tell someone that a friend or loved one had died. It never gets easier.

In the vein of things that aren't fun to do, announce to the world that an anniversary celebration a year in the making will not be held.That memory is still too raw so I will go elsewhere

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Now for the record, I actually like to chop wood and shovel snow. However, I would not want to redo the snow clearance of the Blizzard of 2006. It wasn't the tasks of shoveling the driveway, nor the three hundred feet of sidewalk, or even the narrow path to the elderly neighbors front door that puts the task on the list. It was the tossing of the snow onto a pile that was several feet over my head. Then doing it again and again when the snowplow knocked five feet of the pile back into the driveway. And did it not once, or twice but several times until I finally stood in front of the driveway and refused to move. I never want to have to stand firm again.

In a postscript, every time we see on the news that another winter storm is hitting the area, we are glad that we moved. The town had taken out the one-stone wide slate sidewalk which practically cleared itself and replaced it with a 100-foot long and more than six-foot wide concrete sidewalk. Way too much to shovel within the 12-hour stopping of snow law.

That's my story. Hope you'll visit the other authors in the challenge. ~till next time, Helen




5 comments:

  1. I have never lived in a place that required the shoveling of snow. We get 'snow' on occasion in GA but not really. When the hubs and I talk about moving, I have a list of places that are a hard no, and those usually are places with bad winters.

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    1. Until fairly recently, except for some time overseas and in Florida as a child, I've always lived where snow falls. Sometimes its 12 inches in one storm or spread out. One you shovel, the other you watch the sun melt. Thanks for stopping by.

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  2. I hope you never have to perform any of those tasks again. I remember the back-breaking work of snow removal and I'm adding that one to my list :)

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    1. I especially hated it when ten minutes after you got the sidewalk cleared and the driveway opened, the snow plow decides to push everything from the middle of the street into your driveway. Shivering as I think about it. thanks for stopping by.

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  3. I'm so sorry about the destruction of those two projects. I still have snow in my front yard and a slow-melting bunch alongside one side of my car that refuses to melt. I agree about it being an unpleasant task to plan a funeral for a family member. I've had to do a couple myself.

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