3 Things that Haunt

Happy almost Halloween. In honor of my least favorite holiday, here is a list of things that haunt, courtesy of my life.

A Reflection of Past Life
Harriet*, once healthy, now shuffles around a memory care dining room, scooping bread crumbs from glass tables into her long, wrinkled hand. In seconds, she forgets the crumbs in her hands and lets them drop to the floor. This is a reflection of her past life – a life she will no longer remember, when she cleaned her own kitchen, surrounded by family. She continues to shuffle, scoop, and mutter to herself, haunting the dining room.

Ugly German
Carter*, a young man in a college German class, sits far away from the others. His method of interacting is not like the others – in English or German – and for that, receives snickers and satirical questions. He never gives up trying to be liked, but the others never give up their play. The man is haunted by people no better than he, for his ugly, evil-sounding German.

Blindness in October
Julie*, who’s had far too many troubles in her long life, is now mostly blind from failed surgeries. Her eyes never look at the same spot, and she keeps the house closed and black. The possibility of permanence haunts her as she looks past me, holding on to the wall for a foundation in her dark world.

*names have been changed

M-I-A

I want to apologize for being missing in action so much the past couple months! Life hit a big turn from my summer chilling to the start of my sophomore year at Brigham Young University and working in the BYU English Department. However, these are no excuses because writers write no matter what is going on in their lives – it is simply how we live. 

That being said, my writing may have dulled the past couple months, but my brain has not. I’ve been thinking a lot about the direction of this blog. I threw a few ideas around with my husband – about a book blog, a photography blog, a writing blog, and even a flower blog. But I couldn’t pick just one. I don’t think I’m ready to confine my writing into one subject. And so, my blog will stay Savannah’s Secretaire for now.

Writing is like that, I think. We have different moods and styles as our lives take different turns. Being a writer means staying flexible, and that’s not always easy when you are in college, have kids, or working overtime. However, if writing is important to you, you make time for it. That’s just the way life works. It’s important to have flexibility in changing your writing style, making time for it, and sometimes, you just have to force yourself to like it.

I’m trying to come back, folks. One blog post at a time, and open to suggestions.