How do you write in the midst of travel, especially family reunions? Where can you snatch moments of time and quiet?
We’ve traveled from Indiana to my native Oregon for my parents 50th anniversary party and family reunion. I knew I wouldn’t get any writing time on the last hectic day of work and packing, and I was too exhausted to write during our flights or airport layovers. But I thought that I’d snatch a few minutes to write yesterday.
Wrong.
Between helping my parents with last minute chores, grocery shopping for the crowd staying at the old place, and then greetings with my brother and sister and their families, there was not only no time, there was no inclination.
And yet . . .
I was writing, just not sitting at the computer or with paper and pen. I kept myself aware of the sharp mountain air as we went for a walk; the entranced nieces and nephews as my brother told stories; the tones in my sister’s voice as the children helped her set up their tent; the laughter and remember-whens as we carried on four conversations at once; and the stories themselves, even a few episodes I had long forgotten.
Now all I have to do is find time to jot them down, but I do have one advantage. My body is still on Eastern Time and I’m waking up at 5 and 6 in the morning (I’ve got to go to bed earlier!). So I have at least an hour of quiet and calm before the hordes wake up, youthful shrieks rend the air, three-way conversations start up again, and the aunts and uncles begin to arrive. I’m off to write—what about you?
