Tethered Lives

It is a delightfully windy day.  Fallen leaves chase each other across my yard and down the street, twisting and turning at the whim of the breeze.  One lone tree still holds tightly to it's yellowing leaves, steadfastly refusing release.  Twirling in their tethered dance, those leaves reach for freedom, not knowing the cost.

The screen door beside me bangs and howls in the wind, fighting the lock that holds it fast.  Out back, the wooden shed's locks are not so strict, and allow rebellious doors to fly on creaking hinges, back and forth with abandon - yet neither are they free.

I suppose to authentically write teenagers, it helps to have been one and also to have been on the other side having raised a few.  But teenagers also get a bad rap.  Don't we all at some point in our lives want freedom from what restricts and binds us?  Do we watch others, and covet their experiences?

The more I observe others and talk to them about their lives, the more I am grateful for my own trials that tether me to my life, yet make it my own.  No one's life is free from trouble, disappointment, or stumbling blocks.  When I read books and write them I have to remember this truth.  If I am to be honest with my readers and true to my characters their lives will not be idyllic.

But life is what we make of it, how we deal with those trials and setbacks.  We can dance our tethered dance, yearning to be free, or we can enjoy the feel of the breeze and the beauty of the dance while it exists, while it allows us to embrace our challenges and make them strengths.