By Vicki Scott
This COVID-19 pandemic is hindering my focus. I could not figure it out until I heard my co-worker, neighbor and friend, Faye Moore mention that she had several books she wanted to read but could not focus long enough to read them. It immediately clicked!
Five or more books, two magazines, four bible studies and numerous newspapers plague my sitting areas unread. These reading projects have accumulated since March. When I lived with my mother during 2018, I caught up on all my reading and then some because she went to bed between 7:30-8 p.m.
During January of 2019, my mother wanted to go into assisted living, and I used that time to finish my book and continue reading until March came around, when I begged for my job back at George Wallace Senior Center in Glencoe. Reading was a must in order to get my book published, and there were awesome bible studies in between.
Then came COVID -19 and everything came to a halt. Why did reading have to be included in the “everything?” Reading usually calms me down and takes me to another world where dreams are made and inspirations are energized. 2019 was a year that I needed to be reading. I ordered three bible studies and our pastor’s wife started us on another one. I tried to dive in but ended up just testing the water.
As a side note, several other projects in my room remain undone since March 2019. I praise God I have my husband Alan and George Wallace Senior Center Director and friend, Pat Hill, both of whom stay on me about my newspaper writing. God is using them. My focus is gone after that. As proof, I’ve started several books that remain unfinished.
It is amazing how one thing could hinder an entire project. A good example is when after my mother moved to assisted living, I was looking for some legal documents. I instead found love letters written between my mother and father. They were so romantic. My father sold his dream car to buy a less expensive one so he would have enough money to marry my mom. She was in Virginia in school at the time but had to make an em-ergency trip back home because her mother was dying. My father surprised her by traveling over an hour to her childhood home to be there for her. My mom’s family had never met my dad prior to this visit, but it made quite an impression. Reading their letters made me feel like I was there, and I felt a book transcribing deep in my soul.
My mother, however, found the letters during a home visit and took them back to assisted living with her. I did not get to see them again until about two days ago. I thought they were gone. I thought I could try to write from memory, but it did not work out. They were gone, along with my inspiration.
While writing this column, I pray my focus on reading and writing is coming back. Otherwise, I will still look at an accumulation of reading material while writing in my head. It helps to have found what I thought was gone forever. With my focus right, I pray this book is published with glory and honor to God, my mother, and my father. I also pray for our center to open and let the games and activities begin. I am not the center manager anymore, but I still love to play.
Stay safe, y’all!
Contact Vicki Scott at lily200383@yahoo.com.