{"id":10410,"date":"2021-03-25T10:00:34","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T15:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=10410"},"modified":"2021-03-25T09:25:39","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T14:25:39","slug":"quiet-for-a-while","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2021\/03\/25\/quiet-for-a-while\/","title":{"rendered":"Quiet For A While"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not unusual for me to post three Uncle P\u2019s Bedtime Stories a week on the Eighty-one Facebook page.\u00a0 <\/span>It was telling, when a friend texted me, \u201cJust checking in.\u00a0 <\/span>You\u2019ve been silent.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>By silent, they meant \u201cno stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine days since my last Bedtime Story.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s a gap, by my standards.\u00a0 <\/span>I texted back, \u201cEither Laura got me again, or I didn\u2019t finish with Laura on the first go round.\u201d<\/p>\n

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hurricane Laura was a heart breaker, mess maker, life changer.\u00a0 <\/span>Laura wasn\u2019t a war, by war standards, but she was a battle, by battle standards.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know the psychology, but I am living the psychology.\u00a0 <\/span>In the soon after, of Laura, the writing came easy.\u00a0 <\/span>It was therapy for me.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019d write, people would respond, \u201cYou\u2019re reading my mind!\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>I felt useful, giving people words, who might not be the wordy type.\u00a0 <\/span>Giving people encouragement, that they were not alone, that it was perfectly reasonable to be mad, or sad, or near to give-up.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d write, and I\u2019d feel good, and they\u2019d read, and they\u2019d feel better. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Time goes on, everything seems better, so why, out of the blue, do I feel this great heaviness, all these months later?\u00a0 <\/span>Is this normal?\u00a0 <\/span>Is this some sort of PTSD?\u00a0 <\/span>Did I try to cheat Laura out of her full get-me?<\/p>\n

– Change –<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last two stories I wrote were titled \u201cJobs\u201d but they really were about change.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019d seen this Elon Musk interview, about self-driving vehicles, automation, which hit some old scars.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I was twenty-something, change was my friend.\u00a0 <\/span>It was like catching a wave, just release into it, and let it provide the force.\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s embarrassing to throw out these obsolete milestones, but I\u2019ll do it anyway, to make a point.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m the first person in the family with an answering machine, a PC, even taught myself how to program.\u00a0 <\/span>All this working from home stuff, that people got serious about in 2020: I was doing that in the 1980\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to the 2000\u2019s.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m the last guy to have a cellphone.\u00a0 <\/span>I went years without a TV.\u00a0 <\/span>Instead of making a living on the cutting edge, I went the other way, not just to antiques, but to primitive antiques.\u00a0 <\/span>Instead of writing custom software, I built custom furniture out of old wood.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like two different people, but one me.<\/p>\n

That first me, the young me, he found out the power of change.\u00a0 <\/span>I found myself in a technological gerbil wheel.\u00a0 <\/span>Year after year, having to learn\/relearn the newest, latest best thing, so many times!\u00a0 <\/span>I realized that whatever I was about to learn was already obsolete! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Technology cycles are so fast, that not only could I never master, but I couldn\u2019t keep up!\u00a0 <\/span>And frankly, I didn\u2019t want to! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Change was not my friend.\u00a0 <\/span>It was a torment.\u00a0 <\/span>Technology was like a road trip where you left somewhere, but never arrived anywhere.\u00a0 <\/span>It was a hotel life, but as a career, it had no home to it.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s this have to do with Hurricane Laura and a gap in stories\u2026?<\/p>\n

Writing about future stuff, where technology is going to roll through society, benefitting some, inconveniencing some, harming others, must have triggered some ole war wounds within me.\u00a0 <\/span>And with that going on, I then spent my days fighting tangible, visual, in-my-face change, Hurricane Laura damage. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Change, by nature.<\/p>\n

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hurricane Laura is a physical manifestation of change.\u00a0 <\/span>She didn\u2019t care.\u00a0 <\/span>She didn\u2019t punch hard on those who could take it, and pull the punch for the weaker.\u00a0 <\/span>She was careless fast.\u00a0 <\/span>From breeze to 150 mph and back to breeze, in just hours.\u00a0 <\/span>Laura didn\u2019t even have the decency to look back, and give shame a chance to register on her conscience. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We people, we huff and puff, like we\u2019ve got some control, but it doesn\u2019t take much to shrink us back to our truth.\u00a0 <\/span>I want what we all want, some order, some predictability.\u00a0 <\/span>We\u2019ll accept the random bad, as long as it\u2019s not all at once bad.\u00a0 <\/span>We expect nature to keep track of things, like who\u2019s had a bad funeral, and then give them a few years to heal, before you grieve them again.<\/p>\n

But when nature does a Hurricane Laura, she is careless, even cruel, and not only does she change our scenery, she changes our very trust, in nature, and specifically our trust in Home.<\/p>\n

– Foundation –<\/strong><\/p>\n

The other day was bad.\u00a0 <\/span>Low clouds, heavy heart, hours and hours of meaningless menial labor, forced upon me by a hurricane that came \u2018n went.\u00a0 <\/span>That little voice in my head, I couldn\u2019t shut it up.<\/p>\n

Came home, tried to write.\u00a0 <\/span>Not only no fuel, but not even a fume.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m coming back up, as evidenced by at least being able to compose this story.<\/p>\n

The thing I didn\u2019t know about myself, back when I was chasing technology, was that I was wired for foundation things, not cutting-edge things.<\/p>\n

I find it easier to accept change in life when I am confident that some things don\u2019t change.\u00a0 <\/span>I want \u201call this\u201d to have a God behind it.\u00a0 <\/span>If Amazon can make a drone deliver a box to my home, that\u2019s small potatoes, compared to life having meaning, a purpose, some master plan\u2026<\/p>\n

Let Elon Musk make a bazillion dollars inventing evolving technology; I am wired to seek out the truths that don\u2019t change.\u00a0 <\/span>I want to think about, write about, things like truth, hope, resilience, made-in-His-image, love, connection, right \u2018n wrong, fairness, decency, compassion\u2026<\/p>\n

When I am in my best place, doing my best work, I feel my feet standing on holy ground.\u00a0 <\/span>It may be boring, by change standards, but I thrive on foundation.<\/p>\n

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This edition of Uncle P\u2019s Bedtime Stories is dedicated to those who feel adrift in churning water.\u00a0 <\/span>May you find your grab. You ain\u2019t the only one reaching.<\/i><\/p>\n

To order Volume I or II of Bedtime Stories, email Uncle P at eightyoneantiques@gmail.com.\u00a0 <\/span>Other stories can be found on the Eighty-one Facebook page.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not unusual for me to post three Uncle P\u2019s Bedtime Stories a week on the Eighty-one Facebook page.\u00a0 It was telling, when a friend texted me, \u201cJust checking in.\u00a0 You\u2019ve been silent.\u201d\u00a0 By silent, they meant \u201cno stories.\u201d Nine days since my last Bedtime Story.\u00a0 That\u2019s a gap, by my standards.\u00a0 I texted back, [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":279,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[2338,59,894],"yoast_head":"\nQuiet For A While - BestOfSwla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2021\/03\/25\/quiet-for-a-while\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Quiet For A While - 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