Living on the Edge Blog

In the photo above, on the left is a bus, on the right is a border agent.

The context of this excerpt from my book is the following:

Bill and I were on a bus traveling from Turkey to Austria. The bus had just left Bulgaria and entered Yugoslavia, where the usual visa checks were carried out before proceeding. Here is what happened:

“William Brierly. William Brierly!”

“Uh oh, now what?” we wondered., as we saw the agent waving Bill’s passport in the air.

“William Brierly no Yugoslavia. Need visa. No have visa. No Yugoslavia,” declared the man.

The adrenaline coursing through our shocked beings shattered our peace, leaving it in broken shards at our feet.

(To make a long story short, after much broken English discussion, Bill had to return to Bulgaria alone; I had to continue on to Austria alone. Yikes!)

The story continues:

Meanwhile, the other passengers had received their documents and boarded the bus. The driver was waiting for Bill and me, impatient to get going. We had two minutes to come up with a plan.

“I will wait for you in Salzburg,” I said, “At the big Glockenspiel in the old town.”

The bus driver tooted his horn. We hugged each other and I jumped on the bus. As I got to our seat and looked out the window, there was Bill standing all by himself, gazing dazedly at me. I pressed my face against the glass as tears streamed down my cheeks and dripped from my chin.

The bus pulled away and Bill got smaller and smaller until soon he was out of sight.

Here is a question to ponder:

When something unexpected and horrible happens to you, what is your first reaction? Your second reaction? How do resolve it in the end?

Bill (my Dream Man) and I met in the Safari Club in downtown Bangkok, Thailand. The next night Bill invited me on a date to an outdoor restaurant in a large wooded park. The excerpt below describes what happened during that date.

“We all know about earthquakes. They are sudden, often devastating. They cause irrevocable changes where and when they strike. Life is one way before an earthquake, and another way after one. We cannot go back. We are told that the shifting of tectonic plates under the surface of the earth causes earthquakes. These shifts are not visible, often not even sensed by us, but they are real, not to be denied. I say this because it seems the best way to convey what happened to me that night, on my first date with Bill.

While our external chatter was going on, an irrevocable shift started happening under my surface, the part of me that was not visible – emotions, will power, values, love. The solid ground of Me, Myself, and I started shifting and resettled into new terrain – Bill and Me Forever. By the end of that evening, the life I had before was gone, and a new life was born. I couldn’t deny it and I couldn’t go back.”

You can purchase my book at Friesen Press on-line Book Store, Indigo.ca, or e-version from Amazon.

After you have read it, please email me with your review, just a few sentences would do, at lindajbrierly@gmail.com.

Thanks!

This is a HAPPY POST! For two reasons –

-today’s excerpt from my book is heart-warming

-my book is published and you can buy it!

First here is the excerpt from my book:

“Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!”

I joined in the singing with the Vietnamese family around the table. A glamorous cake sparkling with lit candles graced the spot in front of the ten-year-old birthday girl. Their dress and bearing revealed that they were rich city folks. Also, the fact that they sang in English. I did not know a single one of them.

Five minutes previously, they had drawn me into their orbit with smiling ‘come hither’ gestures, pulling out a chair and patting the seat. I ate my piece of cake and then nodded and smiled as they chatted. Soon the party was over, and the birthday family rose from the table and swooped out of the restaurant, chattering like a flock of jays. I returned to my solitary vigil at my own table.

A warm glow suffused my inner being. The kindness of the birthday family had ignited it. I remembered the term ‘unity in diversity.’ Words from an old Christian hymn seeped into my thoughts – “Blest by the tie that binds…” (Fawcet 1989)

What unifies us? What binds us together? It manifests in many different forms, but I believe the essence is LOVE.

Now, on to the HAPPY news about my book. At present, here is where you can purchase it-

.Friesen Press Bookstore (available in Canada, USA, United Kingdom, and Australia)

.Indigo.ca

The photo above shows Vietnamese orphans being cared for in an orphanage in Saigon during the Vietnamese war.

What has this got to do with me?

I worked as a nurse during the war taking care of orphans. The excerpt below from my book is a topic that none of us likes to think about in our lives of relative peace and serenity. However, war continues to be a reality in our world today. Hard to ignore!

“The babies don’t go away, except these few I randomly chose at the orphanage. More babies keep coming. The Vietnamese nuns, Brides of Christ, serve in the orphanage. They soldier on to promote love and life in the midst of this war of destruction. Like any war, it keeps churning out babies, made in God’s image. They are spewed out like spent cartridges of bullets fired from guns bent on death.”

“These babies were the bitter fruits of the war. Many were mixed-race, the product of American GIs and Vietnamese women. Culturally, these “Amerasians” were spurned as inferior and defiled. The bombings and battles left dead parents in their wake and orphaned children. The disruption of planting and harvesting provoked extreme poverty to already subsistence farmers. Babies were a burden many desperate mothers could not bear. We could measure the statistics, but no one could gauge the anguish and human suffering.”

Whew! Hard to think about. I know it is for me even as I write this, even though I lived this for a whole year of my life.

How do you deal with human suffering, be it near or far?

Ignore it? Deny it? Rrrr

Reach out and send aid or deliver a meal? Pray?

????

???? Pray?

I was stressed! Why?

The Frontier Nursing Service, although my dream job, knocked me for a loop from time to time. Read this excerpt from my book to learn what happened:

“The patient lived. My CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation) got his heart going again. An IV and the right meds plus oxygen kept his heart going. My heart eventually slowed down to normal, and I carried on with the shift. I looked and acted the same on the outside, but I was changed forever on the inside.

The inner confidence and contentment of the morning as I headed to work, was shaken. Doubts crept in. My sense of control teetered.

Sure, the patient lived. But he could have died. Do I really want to deal with this kind of stress? What’s going to happen next? Whatever does, will I be able to handle it?

How did I deal with my new rocky interior? Did I say a prayer of thanks to God? Did I ask God to help me? Did I acknowledge that He was really in control? No! That night back in my room, I cowered miserably in my rocking chair, a jar of peanut butter on my lap. I don’t remember how long I spooned peanut butter directly from the jar into my mouth. Peanut butter for comfort? It eased my anxiety. Instant gratification. I was in control of the jar and the spoon. That felt good.”

Questions for you:

What do you do to relieve stress?

What would you recommend to others as a successful strategy for relieving stress?

“When I arrived here in Kentucky, the heartland of Appalachia, I determined to dive into the local culture – hook, line, and sinker. Why? Culture is shaped by people. The simple truth is, I love people. When I meet someone, beyond even conscious thought, I hanker to know what makes them tick.

What do you like, dislike? What about your past? What formed you into who you are today? How can I help you? Just let me know.

Here’s our question for today:

How would you define culture?

It stood stock still smack dab in the middle of our lane. Bill slowed the car as we approached, but it still didn’t move. The car went slower and slower. Finally, when we were a few inches from the mottled brown grouse, the chicken-sized bird scurried off into the brush at the side of the road.

“Sheesh!” I exclaimed as I let out a tense breath. “Why didn’t it move sooner? What was it thinking? Or was it even thinking?”

“Actually, I’m glad you asked that last question,” replied smarty-pants Bill. “The grouse was acting on instinct, not logical thinking. It’s defense in the woods when faced with a threat is to stand still. This enables it to blend in with its surroundings. Then the predator would not see it and would move on. It would be safe.”

“Hmmm,” I murmured, pondering this. “The problem then is that the grouse does not adapt to its immediate situation. It does not realize that standing still in the middle of a road is not safe. It does not blend in. The predator (a car) is likely to smash it flat.”

“Yup, said Bill. “That’s about it.”

---

So here are some questions for us humans.

Are there times in our lives when we refuse to adapt appropriately to an immediate situation?

…when we stick to a tried-and-true defense tactic that doesn’t work this time?

…when the results are disastrous instead of gratifying?

What are your thoughts?

Excerpt from my book:

“One day, age four, I opened the door of our house, closed it quietly, and started walking. All by myself. I walked and walked . I looked at each house, at the trees, the grass, the swings, at the occasional person going by. I walked right past the border of my world, into uncharted territory. I was fascinated, tingly all over. I was pulled on and on, like a speck of iron filing to a magnet. I not only lost track of where I was, but I lost track of time. I don’t remember being afraid or worried. Without consciously thinking the thought, what drew me onward and ever onward was, ‘I wonder what’s around the next bend’.”

This memory of mine turned out to be a foretaste of how my life would unfold.

Feel like sharing a little-kid-memory that has stuck with you and that has shaped your life growing up?

Maybe it was an indicator of what your future life held for you?

Would you consider your memory a hindrance or a help for your future life?

The Fried Egg Theory of Life.

This is the last thing I expected to learn as I went off to pre-field training. And yet I discovered that this theory, when I put it into practice, energized my whole being and took me to places I had never been before.

Now close your eyes and picture your average fried egg – nice round yellow yolk surrounded by a smooth white with squiggly, crinkly edges. The yolk represents each of us as an individual with our personality, interests, activities, strengths, weaknesses, gifts, and skills. The white represents our comfort zone – the normal day to day space in which we live and move and have our being. In our comfort zone we feel in control, on top of things, safe, secure, relaxed.

Hey! Wait a minute! What’s that out there on the edge of my horizon? It is looming, lurking, hovering. I peer cautiously yet curiously out from my cozy confines. Aha! What I see way out there on the edge, beckoning me, beseeching me, is…a challenge. Its prickly form is terrifying yet somehow alluring.

I face a decision. I can choose to keep the squiggly, crinkly edges of my comfort zone right where they are. I can play it safe and ignore that challenge until it slinks away.  Or I can stretch my edges, reach out and embrace that challenge. I can choose to risk. And if I do choose to risk, the smooth firm whiteness of my comfort zone will never be the same again. I will never be the same again.

But finally, each of us right here, right now, whoever we are, whatever we do, is facing a challenge of one form or another. Each of us could welcome and experience The Fried Egg Theory of Life on the Edge.

Do you relate to the Fried Egg Theory of Life?

In what way is it relevant to you?