Soda Crackers

We talk about writing through the pain. We talk about healing through words. We emphasize the therapeutic benefits of expressing ourselves and re-telling our difficult memories to make meaning of our lives. It's all good.

But where's the fun? We all need fun. My 86-year-old mother plays Skipbo for fun. My 13-year-old son plays soccer. I have friends who swim for fun; friends who go to church for fun. I like to hike and write and eat.

When it comes to writing for wellness, it's important to have fun with that too. There are gazillions of poems and stories about grief and loss out there, and many are quite good. But what about the ones about fun?

Do some hunting. You'll find there are poems about hips and stories about headlights. Essays about flyfishing and memoirs on parenting. There are writers like Ron Carlson and Lorrie Moore and Anne Lamott, and even David Sedaris, who can lighten the most serious subjects and let you have some fun.

One of my favorites is Raymond Carver's poem about soda crackers. It's called, quite profoundly, "Soda Crackers." Here's how it starts out:

You soda crackers! I remember/ when I arrived here in the rain,/ whipped out and alone./ How we shared the aloneness/ and quiet of this house.

Carver discovers how the simplest of foods has helped him through a difficult time and now things look brighter, and my guess is he had a little fun with that poem.

So let's take a break, shall we, from all our serious worries, and write something a little lighter. Think about a body part, a favorite food, a childhood memory, and write for the lightness. Write in humor, or in gratitude, or maybe even in irreverance. Just write to have a little fun, and see what turns out.

The Hurt Locker

I took some time off from my blogs, and from my life. It was sorely needed R & R.

While I was away, I watched The Hurt Locker. The movie's protagonist is a soldier - a bomb expert - who knows no life better than the battlefield. He's a cocky, daring SOB who endears himself to the audience, eventually, when he reveals a box of dismembered bomb parts under his bed; he keeps it as a reminder of the things that almost, but didn't, kill him. His threats were literal, tangible, and monstrous, and presumably his collection gives him strength to face the next bomb.

Most of us have not been repeatedly threatened by terrorist bombs, but we all are periodically threatened by things that can bring us down, physically or emotionally: disease, disastrous relationships, financial hardship, or even our own faulty thinking. Like the soldier's bomb parts, those threats get stored away on shelves in our minds, collecting dust as years pass.

Sometimes it's good to pull them out, shake off the cobwebs, and remember, to recall what it was that allowed us to survive. It may have been inner strength or comfort from those in our circle of support. It may have been western medicine or eastern wisdom or maybe even faith in a higher being that brought us through. It may have been a combination of these things, sprinkled with a little luck or fairy dust. Whatever it was, it's good to sort through those lockers of pain to remind us of the threats that lurk but also of the strength that ultimately wins.

What's in your hurt locker? Make a list of the things in the past that have threatened to bring you down, and next to each item list out what it was that saved you. Make a list of ongoing threats, and even concerns for the future. What will get you through next time?