Mariam H. Cheshire

-----This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. Ralph Waldo Emerson ----- Coming up on the age of 94, like any other time, there are a couple of choices. The horizon can broaden to include promising sunrises and blazing sunsets. Or it can narrow to the size of a television screen. Shall I keep the keyboard oiled up and the link to the dictionary and thesaurus on my computer screen? Or shove it to the back of my desk and settle down in the custom-fit rocking chair? No sense telling you about the irritating pains pushing me toward the rocker. It would be so easy to let go and forget the wide open spaces that promise a beckoning challenge. I set the sixth book as a goal. The “Stories about the Hotel Westward Ho” is out there now. Should I continue? The seventh book (24 Hours) has half a dozen chapters written a few years back. It’s a love story and I am timid about the worth of those chapters. Another starter book has our genealogy research for its base and it would be fiction based on fact. There’s more. There are haphazard starting pages in a file titled “Stories to write.” I couldn’t get to these even if the Royal Timekeeper gave me another ten years. What about the books I want to read? Authors that I drool over their words and wish I had their talent? Can stories stay out of my head? I’ve been putting words together since I learned to print, 85 years ago. This is a life-long addiction. I don’t know if I can stay away. Or whether the next page crawls into my mind when I close my eyes. For a couple of months I will be busy with telling the world about the Hotel Westward Ho. I’m obligated to give it a chance to smell the fresh air and see if it wilts or grows. Then maybe I’ll find out if I can enjoy the rocking chair. (May 9, 2021) --------- website with blogs and books -- www.TASWOS.com Mariam Lewis Heiny Cheshire, proud mother of Fred Duane Cheshire