My best writing trait is starting writing projects, and my worst is actually finishing them. I could tell you about ten different book ideas right now, and only three of them have any text written. Sad, I know, but at least it keeps my mind fresh when I want to (and - heaven forbid- ever have TIME to) write; if I'm stuck on one idea I can move to another until the creative juices flow back around to the right genre. I want to use the Open Mic as a sounding board for some of these ideas, comment on whether you would read this book and why or why not. If I'm going to get any of these in a Barnes and Noble near you one day, I need to get them in the public eye sometime, sooner rather than later. Here is the forward to the best developed autobiography/ life lesson book I want to finish. I love the idea:
“I finally
got married. Wow, half of life’s major events are over, all I have to do now is
have kids and die.” It might not be an
accurate thought, but I like to think it’s a clever thought. And by clever, I
mean hopeful that it’s true. I was sure that it would take me significantly
longer to find someone worth marrying, years even. I was even content with that
idea. Judging by the girls that I have tried to date, I had decided figuring them
out would be like finding hay in a needle stack in the middle of the night,
blindfolded. It was way easier to write this whole thing off as too hard and
just not take the plunge, play it extremely safe until sometime in never when I
would somehow have enough guts to date someone.
My parents saw this in me pretty quick. By the
time I had been sat down and lectured about dating for the third time, even
looking at a girl was stressful, let alone talking to one. At least in my own
mind I was the dorky fifteen year old brother to every young woman I met. Then
I ran into an old acquaintance, a sweet girl by the name of Megan. Marriage is
a sobering thought; at least it was until it happened. It came and went in such
a blur that it took weeks for the finality to sink in. Once it hit me that I
was married to a person I really could be happy with, someone who was as
excited to be with me as I was with them, I started to realize something
important.
I have seen glimpses of this life
lesson before, but from my newlywed vantage point I can understand it better
now. Everybody steers so much of their daily energy toward the next massive
milestone in their life; graduation, moving out, the next semester, getting
married, having children, a career, and all that does need some serious daily
attention, I know. What I’m coming to find out though, despite the big things,
is that there is never enough attention given to the little details. I’m
talking about the minutes, even seconds of time where the breathtaking beauty
of life can be seen, uncluttered and clear as crystal. These are moments that
make you take a step out of your life to reflect, where you take a long,
serious, and grateful look at what your life is, what it really is. When I say
beauty I don’t mean to cut out some of the harsher times too. There is beauty
in the pounding of a good rainstorm, and the world is always cleaner and
brighter for it. Sometimes nothing is more valuable and more formative than
adversity, in my experience I would almost say all the time nothing is more valuable
or more formative.
This brings us to why you’re reading
this, and why I’m writing it. I’m blaming it on my marriage, because before
then my life was really my own, and the little details of my life were mine to
discover. Now I get to share all of them with another person, my wife, and
sharing them has become a more appealing idea every passing day. Some of these
details are too precious to keep to myself, and hopefully by hearing some of
mine, you can start seeing them in your own life too. The idea is gratitude, in
one word. Gratitude for every sweet, miserable, tough, hilarious,
heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, joyful little detail in my life, both those
behind me and those in front of me. If I haven’t scared you off yet, mission
accomplished. Keep reading.
Little
Details: Insights of a Newlywed.
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