A Novel Creation www.WatersWords.com

  Life Is Simply “Blunderful”   Never heard the word blunderful? Here’s the definition:   blunderful-   adj.   Word used to describe one’s own mishaps, mistakes, and blunders ultimately leading to unexpected positive outcomes.  (WatersWords)   Here is an example from my own life:   My husband worked for the University of Cincinnati. One of the perks was a tuition remission program. When Tom discovered the benefit extended to me, we started talking about the possibility of me pursing an advanced degree. Someday. I didn’t see it on the near horizon. After all, I was busy as a wife and a mom to three active little girls. I was a teacher and had many responsibilities at church. I wanted to continue my education, but kept putting it on the back burner.   One Monday as we cleared the dinner dishes, I told the girls to get ready for volleyball. It wasn’t a league. It was a family night at a church gym.    “Oh, wait,” Tom said, “w...

The Short Iron Press No this is not about weight lifting. It is about metaphors that matter.   Perhaps it is because I am a writer I see life unfold as a series of metaphors. It is the old “Life is a Box of Chocolates” notion.   Maybe it’s simply how my brain functions. I tend to understand more when I see life through “story.”   Take the gardening metaphor I use for writing. Research? I liken that to preparing the soil. First draft? Planting seeds. Adding words? Watering and fertilizing. Editing? Weeding. Publishing? Harvesting.   My thinking isn’t limited to writing, though. I’ve compared my life to a jigsaw puzzle, marriage as a dance, and my education to a painting with layers and layers of color. I’ve described widowhood in terms of a boat on a rough sea shrouded with fog.    As a professor, I’ve encouraged a few students to not give up on college simply because the four-year degree may take six. I’ve drawn a mountain on their notebook and describ...

 Call of the West...A Call for "Can-Do" I was four-years-old when my family moved from Ohio to Arizona. The move was necessary. The prevailing theory at the time was that given the opportunity to breathe in a warm, dry climate, children could outgrow respiratory conditions such as asthma. I had asthma. It was pretty bad.   Moving to parts unknown was a challenge for my parents. Dad was leaving a good job and security. In Ohio we were surrounded by family and friends. Mom and Dad knew no one in Arizona. I only knew Mom and Dad. They didn’t know where we would live or anything when they made their decision.   What they did know was that I couldn’t breathe. They packed everything they could carry with them, loaded their asthmatic daughter in the car and headed west.   While living in Arizona, my parents built a house. When I say, “built a house,” I mean it. Literally.  I don’t mean they went to a builder, toured his model homes, picked out their floor plan and...

  Cicadas: The Call of the Wild (Unimagined)   The season of the cicada appears as loud, annoying, and relentless as the political pandemic we barely survived in 2020. Where I live in Ohio is seemingly held hostage by the seventeen-year-cicada. Entomologists are undoubtedly thrilled with the invasion.   I am not an entomologist.    Newscasters in the area report on cicada sightings, collections of the creatures, and go so far as to share intimate details of their mating. They are quick to point out the insects are harmless.    Right. Everyone who believes that…stand on your head.   Oh sure, they don’t bite or sting. They don’t eat away at your garden. We’re not talking destruction or poison here, but trust me…they are not the little innocent creatures scientists would make them out to be.    For example, let’s say, hypothetically of course, there is a woman about my age whose lawn needs mowing. She waits until the coast is clear to get h...

  Filling the tank . No, this isn’t about gasoline. It isn’t a post about travel. This is a post about renewal.   Over a year ago, we learned of a strange new virus traveling around the globe. COVID-19. The State of Ohio shut down. We had a stay at home mandate. It was quickly followed by a mask mandate. The novelty of “work-at-home” and wear masks around all the time, faded fast.    But we are a country founded on a pioneer spirit. We sewed masks out of old clothes, washed our groceries, and found new ways to stay in touch with those we love. We learned how to “zoom” and likely spent more time on the internet and phone than ever before. My mother and I became a “pod.”   We mourned the loss of people we love. We hurt for others as we watched the horror of the virus play out on television. Someone on Facebook said we were “running on empty.” Maybe.   My mother got the vaccine. So did I. Then it became available to my daughters and their husbands. Even my old...