Time, Place, and Change

I'm sitting here tonight, in Gettysburg, after experiencing a week and a half of history, and after experiencing a neat little piece of history in my own life. There's so many thoughts, that I don't know where to begin.

I went to Jamestown, the first permanent English Settlement. Where battles with indians, cholera, Malaria, Tuberculosis, weather elements took most of the original settlers. I went to Williamsburg, and saw where the Declaration of Independence was signed by great men committing treason for freedom. I went to Gettysburg, where bloody battles took lives in waves that no man should be in bondage and all made free. I went to the Lincoln Memorial, where Dr. King made his famous speech upon that famous march with his freedom fighters ending segregation forever and giving citizen rights to all. I saw man dream of flight at the Smithsonian and battle unbelievers, and then fly to the moon. I am amazed at the change, from the formation of a nation to the present. What an amazing country. What bravery and passion.

As the country has faced change, and great change, and has grown to become strong in the pursuit of happiness, I look at my little life and ask if I might make a change. I'm pondering what I might accomplish.

I think if, in my youth, I had known what I know now: That I could have gone to college. That I am more than passionate when it comes to learning. That I love writing as much as anything in my life. That there's a reason I come alive reading a story and thrive in new experiences and exploration and adventure... I would have fought for college. I just didn't know. When I was young, I wasn't strong enough to do, and try, and be. Just like Julia Child, my life started in this way, as an adult. I discovered me much later than most, and I'm still discovering.

So I'm taking my personal progress a step further, examining what I really might be interested in. Knowledge #5. Learn about an area that interests you. I'm asking an editor friend to share with me what I need to do to become an editor. Right now, it's just homework. But I just might reinvent myself, and the thought excites me. If I take classes, I know I can learn to improve my writing--but a writer also needs to be a good editor. I believe they go hand in hand. I'll see what she shares with me and we'll see how it goes.

Meanwhile, I am still agog taking in all I've seen, all I've experienced, including receiving the Blue Crab Young Readers Award for Good Dog, Aggie. I learned it was a close contender for the Geisel award as well, meeting a woman who served on that committee. That truly shocked me. While, there, I lost my YW Medallion. But it just makes me determined to earn it back. I'm not sad at all about that. It means I have to work, and I have a greater reason to work. I'm excited to see this through.