Sunday, November 28, 2010

It is quiet

I am sitting on the couch at my parents' house in South Carolina. The same couch where I sat for much of the first four months of this year. But this moment is different. It is quiet in the house at this moment.

Today we celebrated the Baptism of my young nephew, my sister's first born child. It has been a whirlwind weekend. First the long drive, then visiting with old friends and family. Throw in Thanksgiving, a couple of people with a stomach bug, watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and the Baptism celebration and you have got two tired parents and two exhausted Rosebuds.

I have not had much time to check email or to blog in the past week or so. It has actually been really refreshing to step back from the computer and to just live my life. Mr. Rose finished his travel assignment just before Thanksgiving, so we have been having some great family time.

But now, I am sitting on the couch, alone in the house except for Lil' B who is asleep upstairs in her crib. It is so nice to have silence and to be alone with my thoughts. I made a cup of coffee and started reading a book about writing, "Writing Down the Bones" by Natalie Goldberg. Something that she wrote in the first few pages really hit home with me.

This book is about writing. It is also about using writing as your practice, as a way to help you penetrate your life and become sane.
At several points over the last year, I have questioned myself. What is the point of writing this blog? Why am I doing this? Why do I put some of my most intense feelings and thoughts out on the Internet for anyone to read and comment on? Well, I think Ms. Goldberg has answered these questions for me: "to become sane."

Over the next year, I am really going to focus on my writing. I need to find a quiet time and place each day to get my thoughts out of my head, onto paper, and then onto this blog. Because after all, I could definitely use a little more quiet and a lot more sanity in my life.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

"To become sane..."

Yeah, that about sums it up. I have found it simply amazing that what once was a simple little hodgepodge blog is now home to intense emotions and memories dredged up in the form of prose. I find this to be necessary in order to release the toxic hold they have upon my life.

I look forward to the evolution of your blog too!

Diane said...

I know what you mean. I started my blog on a whim but now I don't know how I ever survived without it. If we couldn't blog we would all go insane!

Bree, Home of Blogmania said...

being in the carolina's does help for those calm moments! miss it much...enjoy writing and releasing! it is a great resource to have and often many people surely benefit from what a heart has to say!

Liz Mays said...

It's so therapeutic sometimes to just get it all out and down on paper...or virtual paper.

So glad you've been living and enjoying life lately tho. :)

Happy walker said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Liz said...

quiet time is so good, and can heal what ails you. I'm pumped to see you are going to Blissdom! it seems like there is a great group of bloggers who are going!

Liz said...

quiet time is so good, and can heal what ails you. I'm pumped to see you are going to Blissdom! it seems like there is a great group of bloggers who are going!

Truthful Mommy said...

Amen! Can't we all. MY writing is what tethers me to my sanity. It is that small threat holding all this craziness together. Writing my blog and building my community of readers, building this great sisterhood through motherhood..it has saved me from being overwhelmed on more occasions than I can count.Happy Mothering, my friend!

Cheryl said...

I LOVE Writing Down the Bones. It truly saved my sanity during a difficult time in my life. I tend not to be a talker (about my feelings at least, lol) so I'm honestly not sure what I would have done with all those feelings that otherwise wouldn't have come pouring out without that book. Glad you found some quiet time during the holiday, which I hope was a great one. Hopefully I'll be in town the next time you come this way so that we can finally meet. :)