Spring has Sprung

Since I've last written, I have returned to in-person teaching during this global pandemic, my oldest son has run away from home, and we've had an infestation of mice in our pantry. The temperatures have risen, rain has fallen, dryers have broken, I've been vaccinated. Flowers have bloomed, frost has killed, a niece has turned a year old. Netflix released new seasons of favorite shows, Peacock re-booted old favorites. All and none of these things account for my lack of writing. In short, life happened and I stopped writing about ti for a while. Never a very disciplined writer, I allowed so many things and nothing to get in the way. Honestly, I've just been tired. Tired to rejections. Tired of false encouragement. Tired of saying the same things in my writing because writing has not resolved those things. Literally tired. My daughters have stopped sleeping through the night. The second covid vaccine kicked my butt. And my allergies are no joke in the spring. Maybe I'm writing all of this to justify taking a break from something I claim to love. But why do I feel the need to justify it? I am under no obligation to write. No paid contract. No demanding deadlines or bossy editors. I have the freedom to come and go with my writing as I choose. I need to stop putting so many "shoulds" in it. Instead, I will write when I can. And I will not feel guilty when I don't. (Maybe by putting this in print, I'll begin to believe this).