In January of my senior year in high school, the house fire that took our home took everything; pictures, clothes, special mementos, and all of the writing I had ever put on paper. At last count, I had written eighty-one poems and song lyrics, as well as the first few chapters and plot lines of two novels. It was a long time before I had the heart to even try to write again. There was just an empty void where inspiration had been.

When I got to college, I had little time to write. Even though I commuted, there was the adjustment to the new routine of college classes which was so different than high school. To make matters harder for me, none of my close friends were there with me. We had gone our different directions, and I was very much out of my element. I wasn’t good at making new friends, and was more an introvert than an extrovert. My classes were on main campus for the core subjects and the art classes, but the horticulture classes were all on what was simply known as Tech Farm; now known as South Campus. I had to drive back and forth after each class since somehow I rarely had two classes in a row at either place.

Four of us horticulture students seemed to be drawn together, and became good friends. Later in that freshman year, I began to get some inspiration back. It was slow, and I couldn’t force it. As the year wore on, I began to feel “old inspiration” make more visits with me.  Having been so afraid that part of me was gone forever, I was so relieved to have this familiar old friend visit more often.

In the spring of that year I saw this guy who became a regular at the roller rink where I worked. I had had three bad relationships in a row with guys, and another relationship was the last thing on my mind. I’ve told more of my and Roy’s story earlier in posts about how we met, so I won’t go into that again, but we did become friends. That’s what I wanted from him; that was all. Period. God does have a sense of humor, though, doesn’t He? By the time we began dating, inspiration came back with more visits. I was so relieved! I had one of my old “friends” back that had been such a part of me before.

I suppose God used Roy in a lot of ways in my life, and this was just one of them. I believe He used Roy to reopen that door to something I had so enjoyed before; to one day become a published writer. So I would like to thank you, Roy, for being there for me, and being who you are. Thank you for having enough faith in me to buy this laptop that I am typing on so that I can pursue my dream of having a writing career. I love you!!!

Have as blessed a week as I plan to!