Living in the Moment, But Whose Moment?

A friend of mine wrote an inspirational article about living in the moment – being aware of what is going on around me, not living in the past or borrowing from the future. Scripture tells us that “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” In other words, Keep your mind on what you are doing! 

I’m working on the final, final edit of Moonstruck and Murderous. I think I’m stuck there. My body is here but my mind is in an imaginary place called Ednalee, Oklahoma. So, I’m living in the moment, but I’m afraid that moment may be Ned McNeil’s. For example, I went by the bank to cash a check. “What denomination would you like?” asked the friendly teller.

I’d been thinking about Ned’s enemies, who were ruthless concerning money. “I’d like twenties, if you have plenty,” I said. The teller kept being polite, but not before I saw an incredulous grin cross her face. Well, yes, all right, I know that if anybody had enough twenties, it’d be a bank.

Deciding to buy a few groceries, thinking about Moonstruck and wondering if I had put too much emphasis on Miss Ann’s shortbread cookies which I’d featured in the book, I tried to pull out the grocery cart at the store, but it was stuck so securely to the ones in front, I couldn’t budge it. After someone took pity and yanked out a free one for me, I nearly ran into a lady in the aisle of the store. However, it didn’t end badly as we did have a nice conversation about cats.

Still thinking about Miss Ann’s recipe, I went home. I decided to bake some cookies. I forgot that this recipe didn’t require a greased pan. Shortbread, Miss Ann’s recipe, requires a lot of butter, but I was going to make chocolate chip cookies. Using the butter wrapper, I buttered the cookie sheet. Therefore, my usually rounded chocolate chip cookies, sort of melted a bit. Okay, they were flat as pancakes. But, they were still tasty.

Dare I set foot out of the house today? Is my mind still stuck in Ednalee? It’s bad when an author is taken over by her character. So, I’ll breathe deeply, drink another cup of Folger’s, and remind myself that I must live in the moment – not Nettie Elizabeth Duncan McNeil’s moment, but my own!