You Say Goodbye; I Say Hello

The Beatles knew a thing or two in writing lyrics. The band understood how music and lyrics changed as the band evolved. Their writing matured.

My writing and what I write about has changed, too.

Although 2014 had some great milestones, I’m glad it is ending. I look forward to 2015. I look forward to having energy again after a physically draining pregnancy. I am excited for life with two children.

In the last three weeks, a bundle of emotions overpowered anything Christmas could have offered my family. On December 9, I took my last home exam because I was on bed rest. The next afternoon, I gave birth to a beautiful daughter. Not two weeks later, my husband and I returned to the pediatrics’ ward with our daughter. The pediatrician found she would stop breathing for 15 seconds and her heart rate decreased. She had a high fever during the first night in the hospital. The hospital pediatrician and nurses identified pneumonia the next day.

We returned home Christmas Day afternoon.

So, as our daughter recovers at home, I look forward to 2015. I look forward to increasing what I write.

What do I say hello to – as far as writing – in 2015?

I would be honored to be published again. I will send more stories out. I know, at some point, a chapter I co-authored will be published. I will continue to work as a freelance writer for chamber of commerce magazines in three North Carolina towns. I will continue to write Adventures of Elliot McSwean stories, and maybe one or two other short stories.

Something occurred to me in the week between my daughter’s birth and her hospital stay. I should write a memoir. The moment the nurses put my daughter on my stomach, and I was the first to hold her inspired me. I had fallen more in love with my husband for helping me bring this beautiful life into the world, but our journey was not easy. I fell in love as we exhausted ourselves and cried having to tag team between our two children before and during Christmas.

We faced illness without health insurance. We felt how doctors treat those without health insurance.

We lost relationships with friends and family members in our decision to share a life together.

We have sat through job interviews, lost jobs, and lost a home.

But we also shared a lot of happiness with our children and each other. We have made new friends and rebuilt relationships and friendships with others. We found personal and professional successes. We have built a new life, which while not a fairytale, has inspired my two short memoirs.

In 2015, I say hello to more nonfiction. That is cool. I have a whole book to fill.