Meri's Musings

When I was in the year-long memoir writing class at University of Washington, the instructor extraordinaire Theo Pauline Nestor said that this Rolling Stones song was the perfect way to remember the narrative arc of a memoir. You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometime you just might find you get what you need. Think about it. Life is filled with frustrations, with detours from the path  we think we're supposed to follow. But sometimes, once we're pushed off "our" path we find the new one takes us to strange and wonderful places. We don't always know what we need. Sometimes we learn by  accident or adversity.

When I was a kid, daydreaming was a given. When I wasn't focused on multiplication or fractious fractions or the order of the planets outward from the sun, my mind would wander. Daydream. Imagining wondrous adventures I'd have when I was grown up. Imagining being grown up. Wondering when my prince would come (and foolishly believing that he'd rescue me from everything humdrum and we'd be blissfully in love ever after). But being an adult means thinking about what to make for dinner, wondering if the front door got locked, feeling guilty about not having gotten tax info ready, paying the bills, taking the car for servicing, clearing clutter, being on time for work even when you'd rather sleep, and so much more. We have a tendency to fill up the time we used to spend in waking reverie with all manner of things and something is lost. A sense of potential. A momentary escape from humdrum tasks. ...

One looks, looks long, and the world comes in. - Joseph Campbell "Twists and Turns" - photograph copyright 2009 Meri Arnett-Kremian Have you lost your sense of adventure? I'm sure if you look, you'll find it waiting for you. It never really left.