Things I've never done

This morning, before the sun appeared over Sunrise Mountain, I woke up to the sound of my neighbor’s melodic wind chimes clanging in the winter breeze. Playing their random notes, the slim metal tubes were telling me I’d slept enough; it was time to get out of bed and do something. That message resonated in me.

As a retiree from the grind of employment, my days have virtually no structure. I get up when I want to, nap when I need to, sleep when I’m tired. My friends joked about my plans to stop following a work-day clock by telling me I’d be bored to tears within three months. Thankfully, they were wrong. I now have time to volunteer fully, to walk freely, to explore my environment when the mood hits and to write, write, write. These are the things I’ve never been able to squeeze into the few hours left over between job and home, the things that often went incomplete. And so, I’m grateful and pleased.

This morning, as the breeze turned into a wind and the chimes picked up the tempo of their song, I thought about things I’ve never done. I don’t know how the leap to this occurred; it just did. So, while the coffee was brewing and the dog was enjoying his morning treat, I made this list of things I’ve never done, just to see if where it leads.

I’ve never eaten a McDonald’s hamburger. (Don’t think I ever will.) I have eaten their fries; I’ve forced down one of their breakfasts, sipped their hot coffee. But just the sight of that flat brackish brown thing posing as a burger and topped with pickles (pickles?), creates such a negative image in my brain that I just can’t fathom putting it between my teeth and biting into it.

I’ve never seen the Oprah show. (Since she’s ending her 25-year production, I probably never will see it.) I attribute this to the fact that my television gets dusty from lack of use. When once it acted as background noise for household chores, the screen now puts out a blank black stare, begging at the very least, to host my latest Netflix gem.

I’ve never killed an animal. (Never will, I hope.) One morning, while driving to work, a scruffy yellow dog streaked across the street and thumped into my right front bumper. I was in such a panic. I pulled over, got out, and searched both sides of the block looking for the animal but never found him. The next day, I walked the block again and there he was, penned behind a fence, barking at traffic, looking like a captive prince, no worse for the wear.

I’ve never jumped out of an airplane (probably won’t); never slapped a date (probably should have); never been to Europe (don’t need to go); never betrayed a friend (came close by accident and still regret it).

Not all these things will find their way into my writing but what I’ve learned and felt as a result will. My characters will watch too much or too little TV, will eat fast food or dine in the finest restaurants; will love or hate animals; will leap from mountains, find or lose a love, travel in real life or in their imagination and treat their friendships in whatever their inner self demands.

While most advice recommends writing about what you know, often it’s what you don’t know can bring life to your work. Spend some time thinking about what you’ve never done. In your imagination, taste that McDonald’s hamburger, watch that frightful reality show (not implying Oprah is frightful here), take aim on Bambi and pull the trigger, jump off a bridge with a bungi cord attached to your leg, tell a friend’s secret.

See where it leads you and your writing.