Thursday, April 21, 2011

3-Way Thursday with Ryssa Edwards!


Hi!
It’s Ryssa Edwards delivering your Daily Dose of Decadence for Three Way Thursday.

I’m here to tell you what I’m thankful for, what I’m thoughtful about and what I’m thirsty for . . . now, now. None of that.

Let’s see, I’m thankful for my sixth grade teacher. That was a tough year for me. My parents got divorced, and I got shipped upstate to the charitable aunt (who, in retrospect is a wonderful woman) to be “away from things”. Imagine a city girl in a place where there’s green grass as far as the eye can see, and the nearest supermarket is a good half hour away. The sight of all that green just plain made me nervous, not to mention the quiet at night.

Then school started and I met the woman who is the reason I became a writer. By the time I walked into her classroom that September morning, Mrs. M. had been teaching for thirty years. We were her last class before retirement. She was tireless, compassionate and gifted. She taught us everything, from what “love” means in a tennis match to why we should care if we couldn’t spell a word. I can safely say that no child who walked through the door of her classroom ever came out the same person. For that, I’m deeply thankful.

I just lived through my very first tornado last Thursday. Since then I’ve been really thoughtful about why tornadoes seem so much more terrifying than hurricanes. I used to live in Fort Lauderdale, so I’ve lived through some big name celebrity storms—like Andrew and Katrina. And I’ve lived through Tropical Depressions. Geez. If I was that bad tempered, I’d be depressed too!

But tornadoes are something else altogether. Hurricanes are more. . . I don’t know. . . like the mafia. They’re never a surprise, you know? It’s on the news for days. You see it swirling out in the ocean, and you just know it’s coming to get you, and you could lose everything. A tornado is more like nature’s hit man. You don’t see them coming, but they’re brutal, vicious and intense. Then they sweep out of town as fast as they came in. Scary stuff.

Remember the old song, “If I Could Save Time In A Bottle”? Well, I’m thirsty for more time. I used to think, if I could bottle even a couple minutes a day, and save it up for a long deep drink when I really, really need that extra half hour, I’d be in paradise. Some days it seemed that time slipped through my fingers like sand on a windy beach. I used to chase after it, and try to store it in my own kind of bottle. I called it a “calendar” or a “to do list”. But time didn’t cooperate. It marched right along.

Over the years, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is to take care of the time I have, and be in the moments that go by, because they’ll never happen quite that way again. It’s led to an interesting life.

I’m Ryssa Edwards, and I’m glad you stopped by to share Three Way Thursday with me.

My novel Dreaming of a Kiss is coming out soon with Decadent Publishing. You can see a sneak preview on my blog.

6 comments:

Maureen said...

I've always thought tornadoes would be the scariest thing around... I live in California and a lot of people find them terrifying. I guess it's all in what you're used to.

Redameter said...

Tornadoes are very scary, but the good thing is you don't always have warning to be scared, the bad thing is, you wish you had.

I think of a tornado as a finger reaching out to destroy something.

What is even more heart breaking about them is that one minute every thing can be fine, and the next everything is destroyed.

Interesting blog. Time does tend to slip away from us. And it is too bad we can't just bottle it for later.

May you have many sales.
Love and blessngs
Rita

Josie said...

I didn't know you had a new book coming out, how exciting............another one for my tbr list, although it may well jump a bit to the top. Can't wait.

P. Kirby said...

Time...ugh, tell me about it. I need one of those time-turner things from Harry Potter.

Ryssa Edwards said...

@Maureen. . yes! they're terrifying

@Rita. . yes, time does slip away from us and as soon as they start bottling it, I'm buying it by the gallon!

@Josie . . Thanks for stopping by! nice to see your name

@P. Kirby . . when you find one of those time-turner things, please---let me be the first to know

Ryssa Edwards said...

And the winner is . . . *drum roll*. . . P. Kirby!

Please send me an email at: To claim your $20 Amazon Gift Certificate, please send an email with "Gift Certificate Winner" in the subject line to: pennandquill(at)gmail.com