When I'm thinking about what stories make an impression on me, what stories inspire me to write, they almost always start with something I've experienced. For instance, last week I pulled onto the freeway in a big white Ford Explorer. I don't think I could've driven a bigger, more visible vehicle. Yet the semi coming up behind me in the freeway lane forced me onto the shoulder, not letting me merge. Then at the next freeway onramp when I was still grumbling about the first driver, a pickup coming on didn't accelerate or decelerate to merge. He just blindly kept going his own pace, forcing me to brake hard to avoid him.
“What the!” I screeched. “John, whatever buttons you were hitting, stop! Or hit them again! I think you've turned on our Klingon Cloaking Device!”
I'm going to write about that sometime.
Then there are the three little white yappy dogs next door. Now, I'm a dog person. I lovedogs and can't wait for the day we stop moving around and so we can get one. But little yippy yappy dogs make me think about learning how to be a place kicker. Oh. My. Gosh.
They are definitely going to be in one of my books. And they won't be the good guys.
John's last day of work was at the end of October. We weren't exactly expecting that, and I was scared we wouldn't even have enough money to move home to America from Australia. But we did. And God has blessed us with an amazing friend who has welcomed us into his home to live with him until John gets his next job. The bank balance is dwindling, but we're hanging in there. I feel like the Bible story where the faithful never runs out of oil or flour so long as they believe. That's the rainbow shine on the hard parts of life. There is always some kind of silver lining.
I'm going to have to write about this adventure…as soon as I know the ending. 🙂
But that doesn't make the unemployment blues any easier to live with some days. The fact is that we don't live in our own space. Nearly everything we own is on a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Even things we know for sure we're going to need to buy – car, bed, TV – we have to miss out on the awesome sales, making me think for sure we're going to have to spend too much money later. But we have to wait until John actually has a job.
D'oh!
John and I aren't sleeping well – and it's not always about the yappy dogs. I'm trying to lose weight and get healthier – but I tend to overeat sweets when I'm stressed out. I'm so excited about my career – but it's really hard to focus when I'm working at a fold-up table at the end of the bed.
And then I remember…I've written about part of this story. Of course, Sydney in Little Miss Lovesick is overeating and stressing out because she got dumped by the man she loved and she's trying to figure out how to make a new start in life. She makes a plan…and fails at nearly every turn. Life sucks for her.
But whatever else is happening, my life certainly doesn't suck right now! It's hard but it's also blessed. I sent out an email to my friends a few days ago when I'd had the worst day – I'd broken part of the porch swing (not our swing), part of dinner became a massive smoking mess (not our oven), and I broke down in tears when I dropped my fork and splattered potatoes on the floor (not our floor). I received so many emails sending me hugs and jokes and encouragement! Thanks, my friends! You guys rock!
I am absolutely convinced that God has an amazing plan for us, a plan that includes a job and an apartment and a car and a bed – everything we need. At the time that He's decided is perfect.
It's still freakin' hard!
But life is not a study in the blues. There are a lot of other colors in my life right now. What about yours? What's going wrong and, better yet, what's going right in your life right now?
