The Joys of Writing

Twisting and struggling like a fish caught on a Fisherman's hook, I was drowning in a sea of "Writer's Blocks", "Rejections", and "Procrastinations". I plucked the last page of my latest Novel from my ancient typewriter, crushed it into a tiny ball and threw it across the room. The ball landed in the waste basket near the door. Thoughts of throwing my typewriter into the waste basket next, crowded my mind but instead, I bowed my head and prayed, "Please God, help me to overcome my past writing mistakes and find the Joys of Writing in my part of the World, The Bahama Islands. Before my prayers were finished, I saw them, hundreds of butterflies clinging to the blossoms of a "Strong Bark Tree" in my front yard. The butterflies stood motionless on the dew laden blossoms as they sucked the sweet Nectar in contentment. As I moved closer, the sweet fragrance from the blossoms made me realize that this was the real reason why the butterflies had come to my tree. "The Strong Bark", or " Strong Back Tree" as it is sometimes called by Bahamians is a valuable tree to have in your garden. Although it flourishes and grow in the "wilds', it is very valuable to many Bahamians. The leaves when brewed make an excellent tea. The berries are bright orange, when ripe, soft and semi sweet to the taste. The tree grows deep into the soil, and is so strong that it refuses to fall, even in Hurricanes. I thought, how sad it was that new or foreign land owners were not aware of the significance of these trees, and were cutting them down. I knew at that moment that the historical "Strong Bark" trees would slowly disappear from the Bahamian landscape. But, these fragile butterflies had come to escape the cold harsh winter and had traveled thousands of miles up from South America to Eleuthera, Bahamas. They had come to show me a lesson about determination. To be continued in the soon to be published book "In Search of Bahamian and American History" by Vera Chase