There are moments when I realize just how out of touch I am with my surroundings. This morning I had one of those moments. I was in the home stretch of a run, and plodded by a house I had passed by every time I have driven down my street and run that route. It is a great house sitting next to a huge field with a barn in the back. The barn sits in the field, and the scene is one from a National Geographic photograph. Today I realized that there was not only one barn and one house on the property, but three additional buildings that looked like smaller barns. I have lived in this location for almost two years now, admiring this house yet never really “seeing it.” I didn’t just miss the color of the trim, or slant of the chimney, I missed three buildings on the property. Just how much of my world do I miss while I stay busy chattering in my head, making grocery lists or listening to the radio? How many opportunities do I actually miss on a day to day basis? I have been thinking about incorporating a meditation practice into my daily prayer ritual, and today’s magically appearing buildings serve as a gentle prodding to actually do it, instead of thinking about it. It would take me five minutes to sit and focus on my breath, and hopefully calm the incessant chatter going on in my head. Summer resolution, exercise serenity muscles.
● About Me
I wrote and published my first blog post on May 26, 2009. I was about to turn 36 and had been accepted to Mount Holyoke College as a non-traditional student, on my way to completing a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Medieval Studies. I had managed, finally, to know what general direction I was traveling. As a self proclaimed voracious reader I knew that I needed a vocation that would allow me to engage daily with words: reading words, writing words, and hearing words. I also needed to eat, so I navigated my way to a teaching position and I began to fine tune my craft. I love to teach and I love my students, but I also needed to continue to hone my own literary technique, voice, and style. I continued my education in order to delve deeper into literature, making connections, and most definitely, writing. I gained more confidence as a reader as well as a writer of both creative and analytical text. That first blog post in 2009 is short, the writing average, and the topic mundane, but as I continued to learn from other writers I began to understand that to become a better writer I needed to write more. Each time I write and release a poem, a post, or a story, I hone my skills. I invite you along for the ride, for this journey of mine as I attempt to wrangle a wealth of ideas and competing directions into an organized freshly paved path to publication. I might get distracted along the way, but sometimes those detours lead us to amazing views and new friends.
Laura Smith Writer 
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