Where do I start? The introduction is always the most difficult paragraph for me. I’m terrified that I will get it wrong. Let’s face it if people don’t like he first few words, they never read the rest!
So…I guess I’ll start at the beginning…maybe in a script format…
SCENE OPENS IN THE MATERNITY WARD OF A HOSPITAL AT 3AM. A NERVOUS FIRST TIME FATHER PACIES IN THE DARK LONELY WAITING ROOM. HE IS ALL ALONE UNTIL A NURSE APPEARS WITH A RED HAIRED BABY GIRL IN THE WINDOW.
JOHN
That baby can’t be mine, it has red hair.
No, just kidding!!! I won’t start that far back. Although I was told that my dad did really panic at the sight of my hair color.
So where do I start?
Do I start with my dad’s illness, my love of teaching, writing, running, the death of my Mother-in -law, my last minute trip to Hawaii or the fall 3 days prior to the trip, that nearly took my knee?
Last April I found that my job as a first grade teacher was gone! It was the same week that I heard that my dad had an emergency medical issue. I had been teaching for 18 years, and I loved my job. My parents were teachers. Heck, I was born to be a teacher and it was my life. The stress became unbearable, and the very people that I needed to turn to were not available. Dad’s heart was in need of repair and he was not to endure any stress of his own. Ultimately I had to travel from New York to Arizona to spend time with my father. The stress began to eat me alive, pain ran straight through my stomach to my back. My life was being lived for me by some evil god.
There was nothing to keep me my usual calm and collected self. I started walking for a week or so then in the middle of a walk I found myself running. It was as if my body took over and I haven’t stopped running. The same thing happened with my writing. One minute I was checking out my Facebook page the next minute I was writing like it was required for my survival.
My family calls my writing my dirty little habit. Oh how little they know!!
Rough draft! To be continued.
