Thursday, March 19, 2009

Cuss Time

Today was the next-to-last day of my beach writing retreat, and I did lots of writing, so... I won't spend much time on this post. Instead, I'll give you a link to a really good essay, "Cuss Time," by Jill McCorkle. It was selected for Best American Essays for 2009. Several things struck me about the essay... not only the author's honest and innovative parenting approach, but also her freedom cry:

"By limiting freedom of expression, we take away thoughts and ideas before they have the opportunity to hatch."

McCorkle is a proponent of writing that gives "a realistic portrait of human nature" and the freedom to use words that are needed to paint that portrait. Enjoy the essay. Click here.

For those who read yesterday's post, here's an update on my mom: I talked with the nurse on her wing at the nursing home today, and she said Mom "took her morning meds without being combative" and doesn't seem to be in any pain from her fall yesterday. And ... she doesn't remember what happened. No memory of the 6 hours she spent in the emergency room either.

The mixed blessings of dementia.



Early this evening I drove down to Orange Beach (10 minutes from Gulf Shores) for some fresh crabmeat and shrimp at Louisiana Lagniappe, and enjoyed sunset on the docks of the San Roc Cay Marina.


This is my favorite photo at the bay.



I'm headed to bed early... tomorrow is my last day here at the beach and I want to get an early start writing...



... here!









3 comments:

Erin said...

I knew you were at Lagniappe the moment I saw the first photo! Only 2 1/2 months till we can get there!

Susan Cushman said...

This one's at Orange Beach... is there one in Destin? (Isn't that where your famiy goes?)I had never heard of it til a guy who owns a condo where i'm staying told me about it. Nice place.

Erin said...

That' really funny that it was at Orange Beach, because the dock looks EXACTLY like the one in Destin. And the link you had linked to the Destin location, so I thought maybe you had driven down that way. For years it was our favorite restaurant, but we've skipped it in the past year or so because it's too long of a drive from the Santa Rosa area.