Take Yourself off Inspiration's Bench and Play the Game!

I sat in my house thinking about the fact that I had very little to say. Yeah…it was definitely snowing…yep…I was working out…uh huh…CSI is apparently on at any given time of day, on anywhere from 1 to 4 different channels at once. So where was my inspiration? It had been 3 days in a snowstorm that I had desperately wished for! I loved the beauty of the way all of the brown wintery mess would get covered with white, as though being washed of it’s impurities!…That is, of course, until the plow trucks throw dirt and salt on it and cause it to make a dirty, slushy mess…but even then, it was truly a sight for snowless wintered sore eyes! So why was there nothing to write about for a couple days? I listened to all of the reports of downed power lines and dire road clearing circumstances…but I didn’t have anywhere to be. I watched the “BIG STORY” on action news: the Northeast would be slammed with a snow-I-cane….yeah…that’s what they called it. They even made graphics!…but it looked an awful lot like the old fashion “snowstorm” that it used to be called. I imagined what could happen as I peered out the window at the white flakes beating against the house. It hit me that if the power did go out, I would be completely screwed. You can’t even turn on the piano in my house without a master’s degree in electronics. There would be no sitting by candlelight and playing the piano or writing. This was actually my own fault though. I had an acoustic piano but grew tired of having chopsticks played on it by every passerby who couldn’t resist. Even the Nyseg man who was checking for a gas leak had felt the need to play a little “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin eater” on the black keys. That was it! I pushed the spinet out on to the porch until eventually someone came with a truck and removed it from the premises! I had no use for it. I had a weighted electronic keyboard that would never go out of tune! It was pure perfection…unless the power went out! Someone came into the house one time and asked, “Can you turn this on?”…I replied, “Yep!”…After a few minutes, that person realized that indeed I could, but I wasn’t going to! Besides, I was quite certain that she couldn’t play a concerto for me, and short of that, I really didn’t need to hear it! I’ve heard “Heart and Soul” many times before. No worries! Play it in your own head, Thank you!…

Anyway…I found a piece of paper and a pen in case I had a “power incident” (which would be the fancy name that the news would likely come up with…but thank God I wouldn’t have to hear them call it that if my power did indeed have “an incident!” …I waited…watched CSI…worked out…waited for something to happen…ANYTHING to happen…blah, blah, blah…nothing, newny, newny, new, NADA!… No musical inspiration…No writing inspiration…no power “incident”…darn…hmm…

It really went to show that though I have constantly sung the mantra that “my life would find me”, it was certainly not finding me in my house this weekend!…I wasn’t bored. I just didn’t have anything much to say. Possibly this was the way people let their lives slip away from them? If we are always “waiting for something to happen”, all that we have done is pass time. It could be as simple as taking a walk, running to the store, going outside to shovel the snow and allowing yourself to see someone on the street you wouldn’t normally observe…BUT…until you step onto the stage to take part in the story, there will be no story to tell!…Well!…I’m back in the show again and there are other actors here to give me inspiration that will motivate my next improvisation. Standing frozen only allows the snow to pile up on the steps outside as reruns play of the same episodes of our old favorite shows. When I feel that way again, I’m going to be sure to put on an outfit other than my wind pants and sports bra and step outside…hey! I’ll even wash my hair next time!