I grew up in Kansas City, MO. My father was a huge University of Kansas fan so we drove to Lawrence for every home football and basketball game as well as the Kansas Relays.
What I especially loved–even as a young child–was the glory of the changing leaves during our autumn drives. Do I remember them as being more beautiful than they were or do I just miss them that much?
What do you think? Do you enjoy the four season? Which is your favorite and why?
I hate using sports as a metaphor for life: it’s too easy and too cliched. On the other hand, I love sports, watch every minute of the Olympics I can find, buy packages for our cable service for college basketball, watch live events on my computer. Many years ago, before we could get University of Louisville basketball games on cable, my husband and I drove around Big Spring, Texas, searching for the clear channel coverage from nearly two-thousand miles away.
So, I rationalize. I do NOT use sports as metaphors for life. I use sports as EXAMPLES of just about anything.
For example: Last year, when American gymnast Sam Mikulak dismounted from a routine, he hit the mat so hard he broke both ankles. This year, he competed
for and made the US Olympic team. That is PASSION! He must love gymnastics and competition to return to the sport which caused him such pain and months of rehab. On top of that, his ankles never had time to completely recover so there’s always pain, always the chance his ankle will go out.
Is there anything you love that much? Not me. Two broken ankles and I’m pretty much over that. Actually, a sprain would discourage me.
Well, that’s not completely true. I love to write. Because of scoliosis, sitting at a desk can be painful. I prop myself up on a pillow in a comfortable chair and have a jerry rigged foot rest–a pillow on top of a box–to lift my feet. Recently we purchased a wonderfully comfortable and supporting reclining chair with ottoman where I edit. Due to carpal tunnel, I have an ergonomic keyboard, a mouse pad with a soft cushion for my wrist, and a couple of wrist braces. And still I hurt but I 
have to write! I tell people I write so I don’t have to clean the oven and that’s partly true. I have no passion for wiping down counters or vacuuming but I do for writing.
What is your passion? What do you love to do more than anything else?
[This
is embarrassing. The post is supposed to be amusing. Some readers have sent my notes about how sorry they are that someone gave me a bad review. Not so! I was attempting to write humor. Please laugh.]
“This book does not disappoint.” I read lots of reviews at on-line books stores. Every time I see “Does not disappoint,” I wonder if there is less enthusiastic praise than that. Yes, there are many worse reviews. “This book made me throw up” is one I hope never to see. Another is, “I hated this book so much I ground it up, made it into hamburgers, and poisoned my neighbors’ barking dog with it.”
But if you want to recommend a book, please find a way to express your view in words that sound like a compliment. When I read the “does-not-disappoint” comment on a review site, it brings to mind images and scenarios like these:
“When my table wobbled, I shoved this book under a leg. It did not disappoint.”
“I used this book to kill an ant and it did not disappoint.”
“A friend recommended this book to cure my insomnia. It did not disappoint.”
I mean, really, is this what you, as a reader, mean to suggest? “It does not disappoint” is like using the old Texas saying “Reading this book was better than a poke in the eye.” Not high praise.
Do you ever post a re
view? Have you read any reviews that you thought were really good or bad?