In Search of Inspiration

I had no idea of what to write today, when the morning paper offered inspiration. That was very nice of the morning paper. As I was reading, I came across an article on the inspirational impact of “funny pet videos.” The article even referenced a funny pet video that I had seen: “Two Cockatiels Dancing.” It is inspiring. In search of additional inspiration, I turned to the fountain of inspiration, GOOGLE, and typed “funny pet videos.” I was surprised when I was given the option “funny pet videos – clean.” My first thought was, who would post dirty pet videos? My second thought was, what kind of sick-o would coax pets into dirty-pet performances? My third thought was, I only want to see clean funny pet videos, so that was the link I clicked. Sadly, the videos weren’t very funny. Where were the dancing cockatiels? There were lots of cats meowing, which intrigued Cinnamon, but as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t speak Cat, so the jokes were lost on me.

I thought, perhaps nature (minus funny pets) might provide my sought-after inspiration, so I went into my backyard (I am again sheltering in place as Coronavirus cases are on the upswing – and on a more impressive scale). My tomato plant is heavily burdened with tomatoes, and my squash plant is heavily burdened with squash bugs. The thought of eating fresh tomatoes inspired hunger, but the thought of inadvertently eating a squash bug quickly quashed that inspiration. I decided to sit on the deck, but the buzzing of mosquitoes (we’re in a drought here in New Mexico, so the presence of mosquitoes is an enigma) inspired me to scratch the mosquito bites I already had and to return to the indoors where my search for inspiration continued. I looked everywhere.

Dust bunnies inspired me to Swiffer. Stacks of paper inspired me to sort and shred. Creative inspiration was nowhere to be found. I’m retired; I have time, so I decided to sit (inside to avoid mosquitoes) and meditate on the ripening of tomatoes: ohm. Suddenly, a large red orb of inspiration appeared in my mind’s eye. It was frightening; it was intriguing; it was… a tomato (yes, I realize this is a stretch, but the funny pet videos didn’t deliver). The moral of the story is that you don’t necessarily have to be inspired to write a blog post. Inspiration does increase quality, but sometimes, all you’ve got is a tomato (which you can eat when you’re done writing). Life is good (okay, it’s mediocre, but I’ll take it).