The signs are piling up.
I've learned that even when I feel at my lowest, my clumsiest, my doubtiest, the trick is just to wait. It's like the weather in the Maritimes: Wait ten minutes and it will change. Rain then sun. Sun then rain. (A gross under-generalization. More like wait ten days whoch is more realistic about how life unfolds.)
So, the first sign this week: the arrival of the cardinal. Although it's not the male, it suggeststhat he is not far behind. Cardinals are a symbol of power and pride, both in a positive sense (confidence, not ego; belief in self, not arrogance). They are a symbol of hope and brilliance.
The second sign reminds me of the greater value of doong work that I maynot want to do but have to right now. While cleaning one of my houses on Thursday, the structure of the novel I'm thinking about writing, a novel inspired by the events of the past summer (as Mum keeps saying, "Don't they remember that you're a writer?"), burbled up from those murky depths of my creative mind and made itself known. It's a sign because that new idea - from a few notes I made in my notebook - means my memoir is done. It's ready.
(Yes, but am I? Brilliance! Confidence!)
Finally, the third sign: When I logged onto my blog this afternoon, the first thing I saw was a
post by an agent that I follow: "I love reading memoirs," she wrote. She started agenting for the Christian book market but has been representing mainstream writers for awhile. Perhaps this lover of memoir will be interested in one about the spirituality of Alzheimers.