By Nancy Farrier
Holidays are about family and friends. This past Christmas, my daughter and her boyfriend drove down to spend the week with us. They literally fought their way through snow and ice to get to our house, but they were glad they came. Moreover, I was glad they came. We had a wonderful visit, and a very good Christmas.
My son and grandson didn’t get to come for Christmas, so my husband suggested we take off on New Year’s Day and go to see them for a couple of days. Driving from Southern California to Tucson, Arizona takes about eight hours. I do not like driving. The constant vibration of the car, although minimal to most people, is hard on me. However, the excitement of spending time with my son and grandson offset any trepidation I had about the travel.
The night before we were to leave, our church had a New Year’s Eve service. I didn’t get home until after one in the morning, so I wasn’t ready to roll out of bed early the next day. As we drove toward Arizona I was tired. I kept falling asleep and missing parts of our book on tape. By the time we arrived, I was ready to get out of that car. My body ached from the constant sitting. I was tired and desperately wanted to be cranky.
All the discomfort disappeared with the first hug from my grandson. His excitement at seeing me made my day. My son had fixed a delicious home made Mexican meal for us. He even made sure to make part of it that dovetailed with my special diet.
The next two days were wonderful. We played games on the XBOX 360, went hiking, had a Guitar Hero battle, laughed and talked, and caught up as a family. Even though the trip home was long, I was very glad to have gone. All the discomfort was worth the end result of spending time with my family.
I couldn’t help thinking about how my writing is often like this. The writing and editing can be long and painful. There are bumps in the road of writing that are discouraging. You get tired of working on the story. However, when you see the finished book, when your reader tells you how much the story meant to them; then you know the hard work was worthwhile.
Nancy Farrier
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