Trudging Creatively

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith from a Place of Winter for the Years of Winter… ©

The late and lovely Rose Mary Shepherd once said that she needed to plan more serendipity into her schedule. Those don’t really go together.

We don’t normally think of creativity and trudging going together, either. One does not trudge creatively. I have always been a trudger. That is somewhat surprising, since I am also creative, sort of. I can think up a good story, and sometimes a slightly witty remark. And I can trudge.

Strangely, it is when I need the creativity the most that it fails me. When I was diagnosed with cancer, I needed to find a creative way to get well. I didn’t; instead I trudged through 13 month of chemotherapy. While doing that, I needed to find a creative way to avoid nausea. I did not; instead I trudged through vomiting and mouth sores and fatigue.

I’m a little bit proud of being a trudger. Not everyone is good at it, so I can look at my trudging self in the mirror and feel comparatively proud. Unfortunately, there are no prizes or medals for trudging, so no one else really knows how good I am at it. The prizes and medals are all for creativity. I don’t have any of those, either.

Also, I don’t display my trudging ability much, because once I have proved I can trudge through something, I’m satisfied. I trudged my way through the 26 miles and 385 yards of a marathon. I don’t feel the need to trudge through another. I feel the same way about chemo.

I think I’ll create a prize, with a medal, for creative trudging. I think I’ll name it for Rose Mary.

John Robert McFarland

johnrobertmcfarland@gmail.com

The “place of winter” mentioned in the title line is Iron Mountain, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where life is defined by winter even in the summer! [This phrase is explained in the post for March 20, 2014.]

I have also started an author blog, about writing, in preparation for the publication, by Black Opal Books, of my novel, VETS, in 2015. http://johnrobertmcfarland-author.blogspot.com/

I tweet as yooper1721.