Blank Pages

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July 10, 2020

Have we reached that point where the imagination no longer wants to hang with the body it was given at birth?  Wow!  Heavy question right?  I’ve been daily writing for 26 years.  Very rarely do I ever not have something to push into the surface of that giving tree.  On this podcast episode I’m totally transparent about what it’s like to wake up in 2020 and think, “Wow!  I’m sitting here looking at this blank empty page thinking that’s Ok.  It’s already full.”  A blank page already full?  Is that like driving down I-485 in Charlotte and there’s no traffic yet you’re hitting a hardcore speed of 22 mph like its rush hour?  What does it say about life?  Something with nothing is all we need in this moment of expression.  It’s almost feels like our hearts and imaginations no longer belong to us.  We’ve give it away to the smart phone.  Those monsters are more than pretty selfie’s and dog videos.  All that we require right now is the knowledge of the Covid-19 not being anywhere near our neighborhoods.  That’s followed by whatever else these news agencies are dumping into your system because they need to make money off sensationalism.  Now the world expects you to do your job.  To show up happy.  To put in extra minutes without pay because times are tough and true team players extend and not pull back.  The only thing I wanted to do this morning is what I’ve done every morning for 26 years.  Write!  Actually I call it verbal vomit.  I’m nothing more than the janitor that walks up to it.  Dumps the powder on it then sweeps it up to toss it away.  Like nothing ever happened.  I guess we could moan about our present place in history.  We can throw one of those king sized middle of the grocery store two year old child fits.  I want a NFL television two minute time out to sort this stuff out!  Not gonna happen.  I tried to watch Jimmy on late night last night.  Then I leaped over to Steve.  I couldn’t tap into what they thought was funny.  It wasn’t my mood!  I feel like those old black and white photographs our parents held onto.  It was their parents as children with very sad people standing around them.  Mom would say “That’s my grandmother and their siblings.”  I’d stare at them forever “But Mom.  They aren’t smiling.  Is this why you don’t smile a lot?”  Not a judgement call!  Really!  In all my beautiful years with this incredibly empowering woman she very rarely smiled.  How much longer America?  Take all the selfies you can.  The day of the old people frown can happen at any time.  Mom had an answer for me each time I questioned the pictures, “You have to understand son that the times were very tough and smiling required a lot of work.  We grew up knowing that fun was something you did when the work got done.”  This weekend I invite you to study the smiles of those around you.  Get a good look.  Savor it.  This nation isn’t going to back off on protecting each other from Covid-19.  When it truly hits let me see your new age selfie.  Cuz your grandchildren and those that follow will ask the very questions I did at their age, “But Mom.  Why aren’t they smiling