On Fire

I always like to think that nothing bad can happen in life without a corresponding outpouring of good.

At any rate, that appears to be the case over the past few days.

For instance:

Rebekah received her second COVID shot on Thursday and had the most robust reaction of all of us: arm felt "on fire," fever, etc., forcing her to pamper herself and rest. 

She also read through (and approved) Cornell Dyer and the "Mistical" Being, a book she started years ago, and where I recently expanded the draft. 

Rebekah has been super busy covering other people at work (July appears to be peak time for vacations at her company), so it's left her little free time. This weekend, she had an abundance of it.

She's still under the weather, so please think some "all better" thoughts for her.

I have a knee injury (long story here), so I spent a good part of the weekend with my leg elevated and wearing ice packs.

This left me plenty of time to get some writing work done on all fronts: a couple of big features projects, outling the new Girls of the BryonySeries series, two character questionnaires for Call of the Siren, and rereading and editing some of the previously written passages in "Siren."

Timothy, who's been enormously busy at work, scheduled a breakfast meeting for 6 a.m. next Saturday and a nearby restaurant (my first restaurant outing since COVID), to work on Cornell Dyer and the Calcium-Deficient Bones.

Our busy work schedules have kept bouncing this project, but we are both "on fire" to getting it done. So we'll (hopefully) get ahead of any weekend "surprises" by making it the first item of the day.

And, yes, we are still in the process of packing up TWO townhomes to move into two other townhomes in two weeks.

Finally - and here's the one that's most important.

I belong to an online writer's group called the 5amwritersclub.

Yesterday I received an email from the organizar, which was sent out to all members. This is what the email said:

Hey Folks,

I don't usually do this, but one of our members has had a personal catastrophe and could use some extra support. Tonya, has been a stalwart member of #5amwritersclub for over a year and unfortunately had a fire that destroyed her home. Luckily no one was hurt, but she has lost everything. I spoke with her earlier and she is working on getting back on her feet, but could use some help. She has set up a Go Fund Me page. If you are in a position to help, please take a look here.

Unfortunately, that member does not live in The Herald-News readership area, so I am unable to write a story to help raise support.

Fortunately, my blog goes everywhere (although certainly the level of readership can't even toucj that of a daily newspaper).

Anything that's happened to us (COVID shot response, knee issue, scheduling conflicts, having to pack up one's belongings to move to another place) can't even compare to the catastrophe of losing all those belongings and one's home in a fire.

But perhaps the support of strangers can warm this member's heart in ways even a fire can't touch.

If you can send a few dollars her way, that would be wonderful. Here is the GoFundMe link: gofund.me/811b267b.

And if you cannot help in this way, please send up a few prayers, good thoughts, etc.

This person and her family will need them for a long, long time.