“It is often in the still of the night when your thoughts are
the most profound. Eagerly write them down and change the world.”
I’m writing a book. But first a story:
I was a truck driver.
My most recent job was delivering milk for a large New England dairy. On
a fateful day in 2011, September 12, to be exact, my life changed forever.
The day seemed normal, a Monday. Small load, but picking up
lots of empty milk crates from the weekend sales. At my LAST STOP, I was hiking
myself up into the trailer to secure the load, when my right foot slipped on
all the “goo” - scrap milk/cream/what have you that gathers on the floor of the
trailer during a work day. I heard my knee pop and it HURT! By the time I got
home, my knee was purplish-black.
I’ll truncate the story a bit. My bosses wouldn’t let me see
a doctor for two weeks. Finally, due to the pain, medical attention from my own
doctor was sought out, and after many, MANY tests, she determined that I tore
the meniscus in my right knee fairly badly. I fought with my employer and the
insurance company over coverage, even though the proper forms were filled out
at the time of the “Incident.” Orthoscopic surgery was finally performed in February
of 2012. While I was out for the required recovery, all the while working
towards making a full recovery, my employer fired me, using the excuse I
couldn’t perform my job function anymore.
I retained a lawyer, and after many hearings the court
ordered my employer to pay me. By this time due to the lack of physical
therapy, I needed a SECOND operation which was finally ordered for August of
2014! During that operation, my surgeon determined that the meniscus tear was
beyond repair, that I needed a knee replacement, most likely due to the insurer’s
procrastination. A full knee replacement was “installed” in March 2016, a full
four and a half years after the accident.
By this time, my CDL, Commercial Driver’s License, had
expired, and due to a change in injury language from the Independent Medical
examiner, I had to downgrade to a car license. I thus had to give up the only
profession I trained for and executed for 30 years.
I finally settled with my ex-employer, but it was a fraction
of the money I had lost while waiting, and a smidgen of what my potential
earnings would have been the rest of my working career.
Wait! This isn’t about an injury! It’s about a book! Accustomed
to working seven days a week at the time of my injury, short drives and walks
in nature to were what kept boredom from setting in. While walking around and
being quieted enough to listen, the voices of nature talked to me, short
profound verses popped into my head at random times. Such as:
“Ignorance
speaks factually with little regard for actual facts.”
“The grass is still as green in the
night as it is in the daylight.”
“Touch
7 trees today. Hold on tight. Let them tell you their secrets.”
Some
are silly:
“Somewhere
near your home there is a tree with a pink window. When you find it, give a
dollar to the small man who lives there. He will reward your diligence and
generosity.”
“Put
sunshine in your pockets. Save it until it rains. Let the sunshine out to make
a rainbow.”
“The
world cannot get by without you. Your voice is the only one like it in the
world. Besides, who would wear your clothes?”
Some
just beg you to think:
“Ask the
night why it is dark. Ask the day why it's light. Listen closely while they
tell you.”
“Hate dies a slow death, but once we
stab it in the chest, we must endure what emerges from the wound. “
“While driving,
set your trip odometer to zero and drive 6.7 miles. See where you are. Look for
something orange.”
Some
just ask that you be a good neighbor:
“Smile
into a mason jar and use the light to write a letter to change someone's life”
“Wave
to every gray car you see like they are your friend. In that small shared
moment, you are their friend.”
“Smile
and say thank you to the next person you see.”
I
still haven’t a clue where these come from, but I wrote them all down. I’ve
complied enough for a book, titled: “Bring Your Own Bagel, or Profoundities and
Other Snippets of Mindfulness. Life for me now is to appreciate the smaller and
more mundane things I used to take for granted, the power of a tree, or the
silliness of clouds. Hopefully the book would inspire thoughts of those types. A
book that has really inspired me on the creative process is Elizabeth Gilbert’s
“Big Magic.” Read it if you have the time.
My
vision would be a book of these, along with a monthly calendar. Are people
still into those? Along with a daily app sent to your phone with a saying and a
meaningful picture.
Since
I’m looking for a whole new career at this age, I’ll be 60 in a few months, I
figure this might be the way to bide some time.
So
I will leave you with the two that have the most meaning to me:
“The universe has been around a long time and it may be getting
tired. Always meet it halfway and it will greatly reward you for understanding.”
“It is often in the still of the night when your thoughts are
the most profound. Eagerly write them down and change the world.”
