Is it wrong to hope that my kids can have better scar stories than mine? Not that I’m encouraging them to ride and rope broncos…or take up snake handling.
It’s just that my biggest ailments at this point in my life are attached to pretty stupid backstories. Perhaps many of you feel the same about some of your more embarrassing scars. Or maybe, like one of my childhood friends, you have a gnarly looking scar on your cheek that you obtained from the business end of a steer. Now that’s a pretty cool story.
My father suffers from hearing loss mostly in his right ear due to shooting firearms and such, partially during the Vietnam War (known as the American War if you’re Vietnamese). That’s a pretty impressive story. But, much of the hearing loss also stems from long days in a harvester/combine. To some, that story is probably less impressive. My father is still able to boast scars due to being tossed from a horse and struck by a windmill blade. Or there is the stiffness he suffers from playing quarterback at TCU. I mean, pretty cool stuff.
My biggest ailment at this point in my life is a dodgy neck that stems from sleeping on the floor of a hotel room in Vancouver, Oregon when I was eighteen. I wasn’t even passed out drunk. I just decided to sleep on the floor and woke up several hours later unable to swivel my head for the next few weeks.
My lower back suffers from a bulging disc, because I decided to carry a filing cabinet up some stairs…without first removing all the drawers of files. Seemed like a time saving measure at the moment. Now it just seems really stupid.
I have a scar on my left index finger from wood carving when I was a kid. That’s something, right? At least I have a scar on my chin from being smacked in the face with a baseball bat on two separate occasions. (Didn’t learn after the first time, I suppose.) And later, while cleaning out my soon-to-be-in-laws garage in preparation for the reception and wedding party, I yanked off the counter of a cabinet while attempting to throw the whole unit into a dumpster thus smacking my chin with the counter and busting open the same scar. While that sounds stupid, at least it makes a better story. Plus, my soon-to-be-father-in-law, who is a veterinarian, was able to stitch me up. So it turned out to be a bonding moment.
What about my kids? It’s safe to say they are not risk takers. I suggest they try mowing the lawn in flip flops, and they immediately sense this to be a bad idea. But I feel like it’s really important to have solid scar stories for later in life. So what’s a dad to do?
Hmmm, birthdays are coming up. This might be the year to get my kids into archery…and skateboarding…
Yes, those hobbies will do nicely.
This giveaway was extended another week at the last minute, so if any of these titles look interesting to you, you have one last chance to give it a go.
At the Desk This Week
I’m clawing my way back into my Green Ones series while attempting to balance the more immediately paying gigs I’ve got going on at the moment. I know that I have obligations to readers, but it’s really hard to get past the impending deadline type of obligations I commit to on the shorter term. When someone is paying for a website or for consulting, I have a hard time shelving those things to pick up the more fun task of narrative fiction writing. It feels selfish.
At the same time, writing is a bit scary, because I know it will push my limits further than building a website. Creative boundaries are smokey and illusive. Getting the best out of myself when it comes to fiction writing means I have to go to unknown and unpredictable places. If I know how I’m going to get there and how I’m going to get back, then I’m not pushing myself hard enough. Fiction writing is an exercise in risk taking. And for me, risk taking requires prime energy rather than fringe energy. When all I have to give to writing is fringe energy, the creative exercise is reduced to muscle memory. I can still do it, and at times I know I must. But the end result lacks depth and lavishness.
Meh, it is what it is. I’ll keep pushing. I just means more work upon revisions.
If You Wish to Start Reading The Green Ones…
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