A Saying and Two Fortune Cookie Fortunes

Two things you should know about me – you may already know them.  I love “sayings.”  Sayings that people tell me.  Sayings that I glean from books.  And, sayings that are in my favorite movies – on Hallmark, of course.

The second is the “fortunes” that I find in Chinese Fortune Cookies.  Interestingly enough, they don’t all come with Chinese food.  Sometimes, they come with Thai food; or, any other Asian food.  My Asian food comes from Spicy Basil or The Erawan Cafe.  Both have excellent food; Spicy Basil, however, is closer to my home and delivers, great during the pandemic!.  In fact, I’ve used Spicy Basil so much that the delivery person just brings the bag of my lunch or dinner to my porch, rings the door bell, and scurries back to his car, knowing that I’ll be immediately at the door to bring my meal into the house.

You do know that I watch Hallmark movies a lot; I find them hopeful.  I have adapted the lead from sister Clara who says she is a commercial quilter – she quilts during the commercials of the sponsors of the programs she watches.  Well, I’ve decided that I’m a commercial writer.  I write during the commercials that sponsor the Hallmark movies I watch.  And, between the times that I need to go downstairs to take care of laundry.  And, between the times I let the dogs (mine and our visitors) in and out of the house.  And, between the times that I need to change the water on the lawn, either in the front or back yards.  And, I could go on …

So, here come two “fortunes.”

One of the best things to do is sometimes to simply be.  Do you remember a time when a friend revealed something in the friend’s life that is earth shattering?  I remember a time when I was with a friend and neighbor and felt something wash over me.  I “knew” that I was about to learn something that I did NOT want to know; and, surely enough, my friend said, “My spouse (a prominent children’s physician) is an alcoholic.”  There followed a very descriptive picture of the life my friend had because of this situation.  I didn’t want to know this, but a friend is a friend, so I listened.  And, listened.  And, listened.  And, said nothing, which I decided was, thankfully, the tack to take.

We are taught by every person we meet.  In my early life, I taught school.  Part of my teaching was done at a nationally known institution for patients with asthma and other respiratory diseases.  My favorite assignment was teaching children in first through third grades.  Todd was one of my students.  In fact, Todd was the first child of color that I’d ever had in one of my classrooms.  I wasn’t sure how I would respond to this new experience; since, in case you didn’t know until now, I am not a person of color.  I was raised in a totally white community, live in a totally white community, and, until the day Todd walked into my classroom at the hospital, had only taught totally white children. I grew to love Todd.  His last name was O’Malley, so he and I had the same ancestry – Irish – and we had many things to talk about.  Todd was about eight or nine and had had some difficulty learning the prescribed school work of reading and math, etc.  But, Todd knew so much stuff; he had a great mom.  He was constantly adding new insights to our classroom learning.

One day, he brought in a rock.  When he handed it to me, he said, “This rock burns.”  Now, at that time, as the teacher, I thought, Yeh, right, but I refrained from saying anything.  His statement, “This rock burns,” required research into burning rocks.  What I found was this “rock that burns” came from the area of our state where oil shale was mined.  And, indeed, it was oil shale.  It did, indeed, burn.  The next day, I took matches to the classroom, we all went outside, and set the rock on fire.

Another day, Todd brought probably the ugliest little insect to the classroom.  This time, he said, “This is an ant lion.”  Now, I had lived somewhere around thirty or more years at that time, and I had never heard of an ant lion.  Todd also said, “You can hold it in your hand, but be sure you keep your hand stiff so it can’t bite.”  So, I did.  I placed the little critter into one hand, kept my palm very taut, and saw it try to dig backward into my hand.  I also saw pinchers at the head end of the ant lion.  Indeed, it could bite by pinching loose skin!

I learned that this ugly little insect (also known as a doodlebug) must be THE MOST PATIENT animal on earth.  It lives at the bottom of a “funnel trap,” waits for an ant or other insect to fall into the trap, and, only then, can it eat.  This began a life-long interest in this critter for me.  We kept the ant lion in a small plastic cage with about two inches of soft dirt in it, and we fed the ant lion meal worms.  It was very interesting to watch dirt fly, as the ant lion dug backward, slowly burying the meal worm.

One day, my students and I saw a gossamer-winged flying insect sitting on the edge of the ant lion’s open cage.  We learned something new – this ugly little creature had morphed into a beautiful dragonfly!

In the spring, I usually collect several ant lions and keep them in their own plastic box (cage) and feed them meals worms.  They do live longer than the summer and into the fall, and meal worms are always available at a pet store.  It is difficult to do this animal’s capabilities justice with words only.  If you would like to know more about them, just look up ant lion on the web.

Remembering Todd is a great reminder that:  We are taught by every person we meet. 

Where do you suppose the writers of fortune cookie “fortunes” spend their time?  Are they all in a little room in some basement, thinking up these wise words of wisdom?  Are they in some glorious, shiny office building?  I wonder.

And, now, your Hallmark movie saying:  Go boldly in the direction of your dreams and have the life you imagine.  This is a great bit of advice.  And, so … I have decided to take that advice; that this next twelve months will be my year of submissions to publishers.  My goal, now, as it has been for years, is to have some work of mine published by a publisher. Maybe, more than one something published!

For years and years, I have been writing and writing.  Short stories for adults.  Stories for children.  Stories that may be suitable for children’s books.  Stories that may be suitable for a children’s magazine.  Poems that “surely” someone will want to publish.  I prefer writing for children and writing poetry.

So, this is my year to push.  My writing coach will guide me.  I have already told three of the organizations that I belong to that this is “my year of submissions to publishers,” and that I won’t be participating – to whatever extent that I did, before.  I will not be the rock club secretary.  I’m making an attempt to free up more space in my life for my push.  I will, however, still be the secretary for my retired teachers’ organization.  It has its finger on the pulse of my state pension (my income); I’ve decided that I really need to stay actively involved with this group.  I will continue to write poetry for the rock club newsletter and will continue writing this BLOG.

For progress about my wish and my year of submission to publishers, I’ll borrow a term from Rachel Maddow – “Watch this space!”

Be Safe and Be Well

The Cranky Crone

Thoughtful comments are appreciated.