To be honest, it was a bit of a non-event. I was so busy shoveling snow and clearing out the basement in preparation for a teen-packed New Year's Eve party that I didn't fully appreciate the fact that I'd met a goal I'd been chasing for a decade.
Of course, after the snow stopped falling, the earth began to shake and all eyes turned to Haiti, especially mine.
For several days I felt paralyzed by the devastation and horror of the high definition images sweeping into my home. Absorbing each gory detail with a writer's eye, I downloaded the unfolding events, holding my breath each time a possible survivor was located.
It took me until now to sift through the files that have crystallized in my brain. A dead baby lies on top of an endless pile of rotting corpses. Parents scream at the concrete rubble in the hopes of hearing their child's cry. Sounds of anger, frustration and desperation.
I wasn't prepared for the eruption of emotion this earthquake resurrected in me. I was unable to leave my couch, turn off the television or just turn away. I couldn't pretend it wasn't happening.
Yesterday I poured my anxiety onto the page and wrote a poem about it. I had to do something other than text a donation.
I will publish this poem in the Winter issue of CapeWomenOnline.com and ask the readers to continue donating to the ClintonBushHaitiFund long after the reporters have left town. This is all I can do. I know it's not enough. But it's better than doing nothing.
Today I finished writing an article about completing my novel. It felt so good to think about something inspiring and I was reminded that I'd met the challenge I'd set myself at the beginning of this blog.
It also prompted me to set myself a new goal - to complete my first rewrite by the end of the summer.
I've had almost a month to let my first draft simmer in the back of my mind. It's time to get back to work and face the new journey that lies ahead.
"Only when it's dark enough can you see the stars"
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Please click on this link to make a donation to the ClintonBushHaitiFund
