Tuesday, June 24, 2008

One day my inbox will be empty

...and I won't know what to do with myself. But that day is not today. I've been on the road the past while and my main inbox has become a mess of stars and arrows and paper clips. It will take a week to sort it all out.

I took Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life with me. What a wonderful book for a road trip! It's funny and smart. The chapter on jealousy had me giggling.

I also read A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver. Its clarity impressed me. It made as much sense as the sky last week. We were driving along on a highway east of Yorkton, Saskatchewan when the clouds started taking on shapes that clearly spelled tornado. I was so excited. Follow that cloud, I said, follow that cloud! But H just shook his head. The passenger in the backseat threatened to crawl in the trunk. Alas, despite my pleas, we drove away from the storm. Sure enough, the next day I learned a tornado had touched down. I was that close!

6 comments:

GM said...

It's not "that close!" you have to worry about, but rather THAT close. Welcome back.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Thanks! It's great to be home.

I'm still choked about the tornado.

Anonymous said...

Close only counts in horseshoes!

I would've been bouncing in the back demanding to follow the tornado too! We're having a storm right now, but so far no tornado.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Too bad you weren't the passenger. H would've been outvoted! The person in the backseat had witnessed a tornado a few years back and had no interest in seeing another. Bah.

Enjoy your storm! I bet it looks pretty spectacular over the lake.

Ariel Gordon said...

I would been bouncing too, though H is pretty steely-eyed.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Ha! True. But then he lives with a person who once got herself run over by a wind buggy right before his eyes, so it stands to reason. :)