Saturday, February 12, 2022

The Woman in the Mirror by Liz Flaherty


From 2018...

Do you ever feel as if you lost yourself somewhere along the way? If you've had a bad time or an extraordinarily good one, do you ever look in the mirror and wonder exactly who's looking back at you? Because you've changed, and you're not sure what to do with the person who's there.

I'm feeling thoughty here--can you tell? I'm always, always whining about how much I hate change, yet when I look back--over bad times and extraordinarily good ones, it's an ongoing cycle, isn't it? It's what keeps life new and interesting. And, yeah, sometimes awful.

But if it weren't for change, and my kicking-and-screaming caving to it, I would:

  • Never have changed jobs and I'd have been stuck with working one I hated.
  • Never have married the man I did because he wasn't the first person I loved.
  • I'd never have had a third child.
  • I'd have given up the first time a publisher said Nope.
  • Or maybe the second.
  • For sure by the twenty-third.
  • I'd have kept my hair short.
  • And let it go gray.
  • I'd still be writing longhand on lined paper and thinking I wasn't good enough.
  • For anything,

So, no, I don't always know the woman in the mirror, or, for that matter, the man I'm married to. I don't always like either of us. There are days when I do feel like I've lost the person I was. Because I have. Because every re-invention in every time of life is change, it's often hard, and it's always necessary. I think maybe I like it.

Have a good week and a happy Valentine's Day 💟. Smile at the person in the mirror. Be nice to somebody.

***
Photograph by Chris McGuire

I had a new book come out this week, which is happy-time for me, always. A Year of Firsts isn't available in print yet, but the ebook is on Amazon. I hope you like it.

Widow Syd Cavanaugh is beginning a “year of firsts” with the road trip she’d promised her husband she’d take after his death. An unplanned detour lands her in Fallen Soldier, Pennsylvania, where she meets the interesting and intelligent editor of the local paper.

Television journalist Clay McAlister’s life took an unexpected turn when a heart attack forced him to give up his hectic lifestyle. He’s still learning how to live in a small town when meeting a pretty traveler in the local coffee shop suddenly makes it all much more interesting.

While neither of them is interested in a romantic relationship, their serious case of being “in like” seems to push them that way. However, Clay’s heart condition doesn’t harbinger a very secure future, and Syd’s already lost one man she loved to a devastating illness—she isn’t about to lose another. Where can this relationship possibly go?

9 comments:

  1. I am resist to change too. Let's face it, it's often a pain in the butt, even when it's a good thing. I don't know if I've ever looked in the mirror and felt that way, though, like I don't recognize the person I see. But I'm not an especially thoughty person. Sometimes that's a curse; sometimes it's a blessing. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and making me thoughty for at least a couple of minutes today! Have a good one!

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    1. Thank you for coming by. I like being thoughty, but make no mistake, it's often synonymous with painful!

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  2. I understand completely. I’ve asked myself what happened to me quite often.

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    1. Not really. Whatever happens to Dad this year starts on me next year. The apple didn't fall from the tree. It landed in a fork and keeps following along.

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  3. A great post and SO true! There've been LOTS of changes in my life I didn't/don't like but they've all contributed to the woman I am today.

    Good luck and God's blessings with your new release
    PamT

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    1. Thank you, Pam. I really do hate the saying "everything happens for a reason," but I think some things we don't like really do.

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  4. This is very true. I often don't know who I am. Sometimes I think the reasoning behind this is because I never predicted correctly where I would be. So sometimes it just doesn't seem real. But I am glad for where I am and who I am!

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    1. The best-laid plans, right? I don't remember all that well where and who I thought I'd end up being, but I'm almost sure it was different from how it's ended up. Like you, I'm glad for what is.

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