By Judith Kristen, AAP Columnist
Deadline? Column? I didn’t have one single thought in my head as to what to write for my August AAP article. And then, waiting for me in my computer, was a letter from an old Scrabble playing friend of mine.
Her e-mail was addressed to: “Mrs. Wordsmith.”
Within three minutes of reading the note, I decided to give my friend, Carole, a call. I smiled into the phone. “I just read your e-mail. Now you’ve got me wanting to invite you over for a game of Scrabble. It’s been a while, ya’ know.”
She laughed at me and replied, “You can’t be serious. The last three times we played, I scored less than 155 points and you scored over 400. I love you Jude, but I’m not really eager to play a word game with someone who can come up with 15 palindromes at the drop of a hat, use words like: bellwether, ebullient, and jejune before breakfast, and who not only knows the full meaning, but can actually pronounce the word floccinaucinihilipilification! I mean who even thinks about that kinda’ stuff!?! Anyway, you can always play Scrabble with Andrew. In fact, I bet you could sell tickets to that one.”
You know, until Carole’s e-mail to me, I didn’t give much thought about the words I use or how I use them. I write for a living and words are my co-workers as far as I’m concerned. It’s just another way to color the world. Some artists use a paintbrush and canvas and we’re visually taken in by the beauty of it all. Writers paint with words so readers can form their own visuals and conclusions. We all shine in our own way.
Speaking of shining in our own way, my non-Scrabble playing friend, Carole, is an amazing couture seamstress. I haven’t threaded a needle since 1974.
Another girlfriend, Linda runs marathons: Boston, New York, Philadelphia – she’s there. I only run to the car when it’s raining.
So, I guess what I’m saying here is that we all have our own “thing.” That one special thing that really rings all of our bells and whistles. And after a while, that passion not only stays a passion, but, ya’ get gosh darn good at it.
Which brings me back to a few of the words Carole recently spoke to me: “You can always play Scrabble with Andrew!”
Maybe I will. Not only is he gosh darn good at it, why he’s… astute, sagacious, perspicacious, and… oh, you get the idea.
Peace and love… and enjoy your own thing.
See you next month.
~Judy
