Howard Staples

Sometimes, my brilliant ideas look pretty stupid when I am facing the mess of it.

My latest one was yesterday as I was avoiding any writing. In fact, I was completely discouraged and ready to give up on the whole book. There’s no new inspiration here. It’s all old stuff that I’m not even interested in. I was staring at a blank screen.

Then Ben came in to my room suggesting “Hey, can we go in the hot tub now?”

I was eager for anything to divert me from what I not doing. “Yeah, let’s go in now.”

We made a very quick dash outside, to get to the tub enclosure in our bathing suits. “Boy, that’s cold. I think it’s almost freezing.” After the sharp cold, the heat of the water felt great. We were both starting to relax and enjoy the heat.

I was reflecting on how some contrast is nice. After cold, heat was wonderful. After busyness, some relaxation is heavenly. Such contrast must have inspired my stupid, brilliant idea.

Our creek in winter

“Ben, I dare you to go jump in the creek.” I didn’t really expect he would do this, but I thought it would be fun to prod him. It was a frosty, swampy sixty yards to the creek, and it became even frostier and swampier as I looked at it. It was filled with muck and occasional brambles. Then the fun really ramps up with a bank of pure mud, before landing in a frigid stream of about 2 to 3 feet deep. continue reading “Unstuck From the Muck”