Running Dialogue

Written by Writer Dad on February 16, 2009 - View Comments
Categories: Blogging

gone fishingHappy belated Valentine’s to all.

This past Saturday I finished a three day shift at my family’s flower shop. It was my final stint and only a few minutes until midnight for my dad and sister. We opened in 1980. The doors will be closing in March.

The store is the childhood I ran through. The shopping center is where I played guns at eight and then stole kisses at twice that; the grounds where my sister and I would sometimes frolic and sometimes fight. “The big giant grassy mountain” (barely to my knee, but once a place to hide when not being sought) is still there, though the bookstore where I read everything from Dr. Suess to Stephen King has already been gone a while.

The store is also my story – much of it anyway. It’s where I learned to be a grown-up, met my wife, and drew curtains on the first major act of my life.

It was necessary that I work the holiday; important to say good-bye, but three days away from the web I haven’t done since back in December, well before I was a ghostwriter. Three days gone has accumulated and I need to catch my breath. I am building things that need the eye of a carpenter rather than the conveyor belt of an assembly line.

There are a couple of things I’m excited to discuss, but not eager enough to rush. I want to write, but require time to reflect. I don’t want to publish just to publish on Writer Dad, so until I catch up a bit, I need to recede.

I’m imagining this will take the rest of the week, but I’m not sure and it might bleed into the next. I do have a guest post scheduled and may pop in here and there, but until everything due is everything done, I’m hanging a Gone Fishing sign on the door.

I know Friar’s probably rolling his eyes at a blogger announcing his absence. Believe me dude, I’m with you, but I promise it relates.

Until I return to regular posting, I would like to keep a running dialogue in the comments. If you have anything to ask or add, please drop a comment and I’ll be checking in regularly.

If I am collaborating with you in any capacity, please don’t be shy. Same goes if you have anything you’d like to say specifically off comments. My inbox is still totally open, but every email takes at least a couple of minutes. For now, if you have a question you think others might like to know the answer to as well, please consider using the comments, at least until I catch up.

Thanks for everything, and I will see you soon.

Writer Dad

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  • Janice: YAY!!! I have internet again!
  • janice
    If you're not back tomorrow, there may be a coup... or you'll come back and find us running around wild, our faces painted like the boys in Lord of the Flies!
  • B. Wilde and Randi:

    Hey, Y'all,

    I was supposed to be back today, but lost my internet connection! Oh, well. Giant sigh. Verizon swears I'll have things up and running tomorrow. I hope to see you then. : > )
  • Monday. I'm sure he said Monday. Didn't he say Monday? .........tapping my fingers on my desk in impatience.

    :)
  • I don't think criticism is in order for taking a little time to reflect. I think you are modeling to the rest of us how important it is to step back sometimes. It also makes me feel good as one of your readers that you are not writing just to get a post out. What you write is meaningful and I know I can count on that from you in the future. Take the time you need - just don't starve us for too long.
  • Janice: I'm throwing my old lady a guest post. She'll drop it in a couple of weeks. : > )

    GreenJello: I'll be back on Monday. Thanks for waiting and enjoying.

    Jamie: Ah, I wouldn't want a net, but I'm both excited and scared for my dad. For my sister I am only excited. Now it's her time to fly.
  • Ah, the final Holiday at the shop. I thought of you and Megan on Saturday. I got pink roses with yellow lilies in the center of the bouquet. Not a red rose in sight. :) Megan would be pleased.
    It's sad yet necessary I guess, now you truly are pushed out into the world of writing without a net.

    I think reflection is definitely in order and I'm pleased that you know when to take a break and let the words soothe your soul. See ya soon.
  • I'll wait patiently for your return. As always, I enjoyed reading your post!
  • janice
    This one's for Writer Dad's Mom:
    Thank you for sharing this here! It's a real pleasure to 'meet' you and it's now clear there are writing genes in the family!You've also done a fantastic job as a mum, but you know that already! So many lives you must have brightened over the years. Please get together with Sean and make sure the grandkids get at least an e-book out of some of those precious flower shop memories if not a screen play! I sense a blog post will only give us a whiff of fragrance on the breeze... ~Janice
  • Mom: Me too, Mom, but it's okay. We're now all free to drift in new, exciting directions. I loved the store when I was little, loathed it for just a little while, then grew up to realize what an asset it had always been, just in time to spend a dozen years behind its walls. The history is rich and I love it to pieces, but as sad as I may be to see it go, I am also relieved that the inevitable is finally finished, and that we can all move on in search of greater things. Love you too. See you tomorrow.
  • writerdad's mom
    Hi Sean. I feel an extreme sadness that the store is closing, even though I have not been actively involved for awhile. The store holds a wealth of memories for me. If those walls could talk there would be novels ; an endless collection of anecdotes guaranteed to make you laugh, cry, marvel at the complexities of human nature and drown you in nostalgia. I think that growing up in the shop was an awesome experience and education for you and Megan. You learned about hard work and the rewards that it brings. You saw firsthand a good cross-section of society parade through those doors; nice, sensitive people who came in to send flowers to loved ones or friends in emotional need..... nasty, demanding "the customer is always right" people who threw grown-up tantrums........customers and employees who honed their petty larceny skills at our family's expense, and everyday people who found comfort and attitude adjustment by visiting and just taking time to smell the roses. It was a very special place for me and I am grateful for all the experiences, a lifelong career that I love and a great second home for my children to hold in their hearts. I mourn. Love ya, mom
  • Naomi: Thirty years it's been in our family. It will definitely leave a void. It's a big subject and I don't quite know how to talk about it. My parents started it together, and my sister and I grew up there, but it will impact my father the most. I don't quite know how to discuss it with the wound still raw, while paying respect to my father and the legacy the store will leave, but I know I'd like to find a way when I return. I do have a post (in my head) about how raising children can be like running a family business. Seems like it could be a cool topic.
  • Good for you for taking a break ... well-deserved!

    And ... while I don't know you ... or the legacy that the flower shop created ... I'm sure it will leave a void and a certain sadness when it closes in March? Would love to hear more about the lessons you've learned inside of the four walls of that shop!
  • Vered: My pleasure. I felt kinda goofy writing, "uh... I guess I'll see you later," but I thought it preferable to answering the questions one at a time.

    Randi: I've no need for the idea genies. However, if you can get the time genies to descend upon my place, I will love you forever. Occupy as much of the comments as you'd like. Truly I mean it.

    My school had no grades as in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. We did receive letter grades on the work we did, but our classrooms were organized by ability. It was super duper radical awesome and I loved it very much. It was quite the opposite when I moved to public school. I was in fourth grade for two weeks when someone in the office caught my age. They moved me back down to third. I was already bored, but man that was like boredom squared.

    Janice: I have to get my house in order and get a few things going. I want Writer Dad to be at its best, not running on fumes. It deserves more and it shall have it. Thanks for such continuous support, Janice.

    Chase: You are very kind. Maybe my first post back can be Lucas busting out with some flow. That might be a welcome change and an awful lot of fun to write.

    Friar: Your blessing means plenty. You were definitely in my thoughts while I was writing this last night though. In a good way.

    Sal: Once is plenty. I've been clockwork for six months, so I figure it was due. I plan to come back strong. Thanks for all the support, Sal.
  • Sal
    It is nice to get away every once in a while. Take all the time you need, but notice how I said need and not want ;) We'll see you when we see you. Untill then, take it easy...and if it's good, take it twice.
  • Heh heh. I see you followed my advice about blog posts that are guaranteed crowd-pleasers:

    "Announce that you’re going on vacation so you wont’ be posting for a while. Coyly ask your readers if this is okay."

    But at least you're taking off time to actually WRITE. That's quite unusual for a blogger! ;-)

    Go for it! You have my blessing. (Not that my blessing necessarily means anything!) ;-)

    We'll be here when you come back.
  • Hey Sean,

    You deserve a break. I know that the world wide web can be a bit unforgiving when it comes to absentee bloggers but I'm sure your readers won't be.

    The best thing about subscribing to blogs is that they come to you whenever a new post is published. I will be patiently waiting for your next words.

    Cheers!
  • Janice
    Proud of you - it takes guts in the blogging world these days to say I'm taking a break to get my house in order/work carefully on something else/love my family well/read real books that inspire and nurture me and my writing skills...(remember guilt free READING?!)

    You won't lose us. It's the pauses between the notes that make the music. Be who you're meant to be, and come back with a heart spilling over with moments you want to share with us. ~ Janice
  • What? A writer taking some time off to...write? Bless you, my son. May the idea genies descend upon you.

    Besides, we'll probably just take over your comments section anyway. I'm a pro at that---bah ha ha ha!

    I do have a question I've been meaning to ask you. When you talked about the school you attended as a child, you mentioned that there were no grades. Did you mean no grades as in no 1st grade, no 2nd grade, etc., or no grades as in no As, Bs, Cs, Ds, etc.?

    I like the fact that you let us know you'd be busy for awhile. I look at it this way--if I owned a store and needed to be gone for a week, I wouldn't just hang a Closed sign in the window and expect customers not to be upset when I got back. I would do them the courtesy of explaining briefly why I'd be gone, then giving an estimate of how much time I'd be gone, just like you did. Far more professional in my book. Your years of owning a business with your family shows.
  • Just wanted to say that I agree about Friar, and he has a point of course (he usually does) but it's good to know you're not just disappearing. So thanks for letting us know.
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