Is it bizarre that it didn't occur to me until today that this is the last day of NaBloPoMo? I mean, the month started out in a flurry of giddy excitement - I was a joiner! I joined up and wiggled my way into the wooly crowd. And then?
And then the sky fell. Oh, not in an overly-dramatic sort of way... at least, I don't think so. I just got so busy I nearly lost my mind. And I capped it off by filing a lawsuit today. I've never done that before. I know plenty of people who have, and my first paying job (other than babysitting) was as a legal assistant. It is not as though the law and I are total strangers, after all. And hey, I have gone to court before. Okay, it was to pay a speeding ticket and once to apply for a marriage license...but hey! I'm familiar with the lay of that land, so-to-speak. And yet? I've remained fairly obstinately naive with regard to the actual "suing" parts. Which, I think, is not a bad thing. And yet?
So it was a surreal moment, to say the least, when I found myself dropping off papers at the Magistrate's office to file on behalf of the HOA. Oh, and the kicker? Both boys have suddenly come down with a raging cold virus. So imagine my frame of mind when I hastily typed up the official complaint this morning. Which explains why about 2 hours after I filed it, I found a few typos that will undoubtedly come back to haunt me. *sigh*
The metaphor, though, for the last year? It came after the trip to the bank, after the visit to the courthouse, and even after I took my poor, sick boys to get a raspberry scone and a smoothie at the coffee shop as a sorry apology for dragging them out on this dreary, hazy day. (And myself? I learned that a good cappuccino and a well-made scone can make almost anything seem less daunting.)
You see, we have parking meters in our little town. They are the old sort of parking meters - they take only nickels and dimes, no quarters thankyouverymuch, and each dime buys you an hour. Now, it was only 2 dimes that I popped into that meter when I parked under the gray sky and misty rain this afternoon. Just twenty measly cents.
And yet? (Here's where that very highly obscure metaphor comes in...) During the time that I was going from courthouse to coffee shop? The meter maids came around and inserted the "Happy Holidays! Free Parking!" cards into the meters.
Yes, indeed. Free Parking.... but only after I'd already paid.
C'mon, you totally have to see the irony in there somewhere. And one way or another, it all wraps up into this past month of posting-madness. Which reminds me, I must declare that I do not intend to continue the insanity into December although I will be posting with regularity as much as is humanly possible through the remainder of this weary 2006. Putting the imaginary gun to my head to post every day this past month resulted in a few posts that I wouldn't acknowledge on the street, but it also gave birth to the two ideas that I developed for publication. I do believe it also gave me the necessary impetus to begin to write again, this time with gusto. You see, there is a story somewhere in this brain of mine that begs to be told.
Perhaps I can coax it out with copius doses of cappuccinos and scones. Do you think?
Farewell, NaBloPoMo. Ours was a bittersweet journey, an affair to remember, and perhaps even the portent of even greater things to come.
See you next year - oh ye charming sadist, thou dominatrix of the blogosphere.
1 comment:
Mel,
I've enjoyed your posts. I, like you, have been inspired in my writing by dooce.com. I find it helps my recovery from Mormonism as well as depression and anxiety. If only it could help me get more work done instead of less :)
Post a Comment