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Missed
Opportunity I
was all excited about The Power of Purpose contest, when it was announced early
November 2003. Hot flashes rushed
to my temples for the wrong reasons. Of
course I had a ton of material to write about.
Hadn’t I realized my purpose in life? I
opened a new page on the computer and dove in. On second thought, I opted for a delay in order to treat the
essay with more of a methodical, logical approach than an intuitive leap. The
deadline was way off, at the end of May 2004. I had ample time. Thanksgiving
and Christmas overshadowed my best intentions.
A family visit from London in January was a priority I would not
overlook. Clearing the debris of
the holidays, including delayed bills and pine needles absorbed my attention
thereafter. March beckoned me to yard work.
Just as I reached normal routine, bypassing spring-cleaning, an
unprecedented offer to visit my parents’ birthplace in Turkey landed at my
doorstep. “Where do I come
from?” has always been a preoccupation, even though I am well beyond childhood
curiosity. Trekking
five thousand miles in Eastern Turkey and Anatolia, my travel companions and I
lived through our parents’ ethnic cleansing trauma vicariously.
Church ruins and wiped out villages brought back images of their
helplessness and the plight of their retreat from ancestral lands.
The emotional experience wiped out all thoughts about power and purpose
even though the deadline loomed close. I came home, dejected, in mid-May to 400
e-mail messages and newsletters, a tub of snail mail and telephone calls ad
infinitum. “I
must be able to catch up with it, with time to spare,” I thought, even though
jetlag and butterflies in my stomach interfered with my schedule.
Long-neglected commitments made demands on my time.
A meeting here, a letter of condolences there, a courtesy call, club
dues, bank reconciliations, and daily living chores consumed my time.
I stole a moment from my busy routine to commit to the screen all
thoughts on the power of purpose that flashed through my mind, in a heaping
fashion. I had to make room for
three other articles about the trip, pressing for release. On
Sunday, May 30, 2004, one day before the deadline, I sat down facing the screen
at 6:00 a.m., all set to compose my masterpiece. The computer locked me out.
“Password!” it roared. I
use no passwords normally. Panic
set in. At this unholy hour
over Memorial Day weekend I could not reach anyone.
I made a list of friends and professionals I would call later and settled
for writing by hand - a lost art by now. Surprisingly,
stress, or the angle at which I hold my head, opened the pathways to six pages
of thoughts in flow. Two hours
later, when the computer acted normal, I ran thankfully to church to atone for
my sins of working on the Sabbath. At
peace with myself, I dedicated Sunday afternoon to my purpose, between “60
Minutes” and the evening news. An
effective conclusion still eluded me. On
Monday, Memorial Day, I reviewed my essay, with the inevitable re-editing that
ensued. Early afternoon, the
88-degree heat mounting to my temples, I decided to take a short break and
attend a church picnic, to extend my gratitude to the Lord.
The final paragraph would certainly not take more than an hour!
The ethnic-style "just lunch" extended through the evening,
with an interesting chat and tempting cool watermelon at a friend’s house. I faced the screen with fresh vigor by 7.00 p.m., to put the
finishing touches to my manuscript, re-aligning my thoughts once again for the
next three hours. Then I re-read
the guidelines. The notice read
12.00 a.m., May 31, Eastern Standard Time.
I missed it by an hour. Shucks!
I have often beaten the IRS deadline but this one was a first.
Okay, I may not have won first prize, but it was certainly worth a try. Moral
of the story? READ THE
GUIDELINES...CAREFULLY. Mary Terzian (www.MaryTerzian.com) is a freelance writer now residing in the greater Los Angeles area. She lived in four countries before immigrating to the United States in 1967. She has several articles published in Armenian, English and Arabic newspapers, magazines and online. She has received numerous awards as a Toastmaster and writer, including a PEN USA West Rosenthal fellowship in 2001. |
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