On a Snow Day You can see Forever...

Chicagoland is snowed in. Flights cancelled, schools closed, businesses shut down, and most of us are hunkered down in our homes, nibbling tidbits, sleeping, and making plans...

    I called off work last night, and I don't feel guilty in the least. I realized years ago that no matter what rhetoric is used (Safety First!), my job views me as just another disposable unit. Alright. I've come to view my job as a means to an end, no longer my final destination.

   The future is bright, but a little bit cloudy. I know where I'm going and how I'm getting there, but there are always curveballs one didn't see coming. 

    With my writing endeavors, my plate is always full of projects, outlines, deadlines, and objectives. My goal for 2018 is to submit at least one hundred times to magazines, anthologies, publishers, agents, and blogs. I'm building up my resume, and at the same time adding small checks to my savings account. The resume and the account will both continue to grow. So far I have 95 submissions left.

     My daughters are beautiful people whom I'm proud to have raised. The job of a Daddy never ends though. I still have to water their dreams, cultivate their hopes, and add to their foundations. It's fun, exciting, and emotional. Part of being a parent.

     As I'm writing this, a companionable silence reigns between my wife and myself. After many trials and tribulations, triumphs are happening on a daily basis. I have my dreams and goals, and she has her personal goals as well. The difference between us now and how we were before is all of our goals are shared goals. We've stumbled into the definition of a true partnership. Our vacations, financial goals, personal hopes, and everything else is planned out for the next five years. I just wish she'd learn how to share the comforter on our bed.

     Today I'll shovel snow, write, laugh, flip a coin as to whether I'm going to work, help get things together for my youngest daughter's eighteenth birthday this weekend, submit two stories to anthologies, write for awhile, check flight prices, book hotels, have lunch with my family, and enjoy this feeling of contentment in my soul. 

     I think I'll get up and start breakfast, and my family will join me, each person pulling their weight, epitomizing teamwork. We'll laugh, joke, cook, listen to music, make plans, and keep each other enthused about the paths we are walking. 

     On a Snow Day, everything is clear, focused, and the way forward is illuminated. Life is waiting...