Do you remember making wishing on the first star of the
night? I do. I also remember watching The Jetsons and wishing Rosy really
existed; actually, I still do. She could do the dishes, laundry, and vacuuming while
I write or do crafts.
There just isn’t enough time in a day to do everything, ever,
that is truer now that I have a car again.
The thing is I can remember back
before the accident when I wished I didn’t have such a full plate and could
stay home for days on end. Back then a whole week without having to go anywhere
beyond church on Sunday sounded like a good thing, until I got it. Now I’m back
to wishing I could stay home but I have places to go and things to do.
As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for. Or maybe
its something like the grass is always greener on the other side. None of us
know how good we’ve got it until we don’t have it anymore.
There are advantages,
and disadvantages to having a car. Would I trade that freedom for being able to
stay home every day? I don’t think so.
It’s a pain to have try and find rides to do simple things
like run to the store. And its annoying when you can’t help your loved ones
because you have no way to get to them, but I still wish I had a “Rosy” to do
the chores.
Then again, if I had a robotic maid, I’d probably end up having
to do regular maintenance on her. There are always drawbacks and no one can
know what those drawbacks are until they actually have to deal with them.
The same goes with
having a pet. I sometimes miss the companionship of a cat. I love cats, I hate
cleaning litter boxes. Which is why I don’t have a cat. Too much work, I’d
rather not. But that’s a drawback I do know. I’ve had cats in the past. I
honestly should have realized the ramifications of not having a car before I
wished for that, because, after all, I’ve been car-less before.
I was without transportation from the time I left home for
college until I got married three years later let alone the years where I
couldn’t drive. I honestly should have considered the ramifications. I missed
out on a few things I wanted to do simply because I had no way to get there,
but I did have more time to write. What’s more important? Freedom to go places
or freedom to stay home and write?
As a writer, it should be freedom to stay home, but if that
is your life day in and day out, it gets old fast. Even writer’s need
interaction with other people once in a while. Just not every day of the week.
And its not like the weather is cooperating.
At one point this last few weeks, I was glad I had such a
big (high off the ground) vehicle, because the amount of snow that used mean I
couldn’t get out of my driveway, doesn’t even faze this thing. It’ll drive right
over it. Problem is, that makes the driveway hard packed, and slippery.
Yeah, I slipped on my driveway the other day.
I also have to deal with clearing the snow off my car, which
isn’t easy considering I’m so short, and it’s so big. Another thing I honestly
should have considered before I bought it. I had to go out and find a window
scraper with a long telescoping handle, because I simply couldn’t reach enough
of the windshield without it.
You would think a writer would be able to do bit of “What if”
thinking and figure out these things before they got in too deep.
But do any of us ever see all the possible scenarios to what
we’re wishing for? I’d say, I don’t think so, but I know for a fact there are a
lot of stories which started with, “What if”.
It’s done all the time, and I’m told several of the better thriller
or sci-fi movies were started this way, and I’ve heard a few comedies started
with the premise, what can go wrong will go wrong. Life is like that − our
stories should be too.
Life isn’t always sunshine and roses, and our stories would
be boring if we wrote them that way. Mistakes happen, things don’t always go as
planned, and the grass isn’t really greener on the other side of the fence.
Those of us on the outside looking in, can’t possibly see
what’s really going on. That immaculate lawn may be hiding a man who beats his
wife for spilling a little milk.
Happy writing everyone.
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