I’m a nun and I ain’t go nuthin’

“I’m a Nun and I ain’t got nuthin’.”

Little kids say the funniest things. This gem came courtesy of my cousin on a Halloween night many moons ago. I was a young teenager and he was little, maybe 5? He was sitting in a mustard yellow upholstered chair that was grossly oversized for his slight frame. He wore a Spiderman costume and constantly kicked his legs, ever in perpetual motion, as little kids are want to be especially, hopped up on sugar post Halloween candy collection.

J, his parents and his older brother came to our house because they lived in an apartment complex and we lived in a neighborhood where the houses were spitting distance apart. I don’t remember the exact context of the conversation that was going on at the time, but I suspect his Dad and my Bonus Dad were talking about their days in Catholic School.

Out of the blue it came, a complete non-sequitur.

“I’m a Nun and I ain’t go nuthin’.”

Conversation ceased and we all burst out laughing. He had no idea what he’d said or why it was funny but he guffawed right along with us. Then, he said it again. And, just in case we hadn’t all heard him, he said it one more time. As time went by, the line became a family catch phrase for sheer exhaustion, or being out of ideas, or even just a way to break tension.

A grown Spiderman schooling emerging Captain American and Ironman (J with his boys this past Halloween ©2016 Used with Permission)

“I’m a Nun and I ain’t go nuthin’.”

As recently as this summer, I had a list of topics going for Live to Write, Write to Live blog posts. It was a piece of notepaper from a local bra fitters shop. No connection to the blog, just what was nearest when I was inspired the first time.

“I’m a nun, I ain’t got nuthin’.”

As previously noted, I’m a planner.  When I sign up for NHWN slots, I try to sign up to post on Thursdays. After I’ve selected my dates, I go to GQueues my personal to-do list manager and add 3 tasks for each blog post.

• Blog post idea (due the Friday before)
• Blog post draft (due the Monday before)
• Blog post due (due at 8am on that Thursday, although my goal is to have it completed Wednesday evening if possible.)

The next time I sign up for blog posts I’ll be adding a fourth task, Locate blog post graphic, but I digress.

Sometimes I have an idea in the wings, so the Friday task is an easy check-off.  If not, I have all weekend to ponder and review what I’ve been reading and or writing to see if there is something “bloggable” there. Usually something rises to the surface.

“I’m a Nun and I ain’t go nothin’.”

Last Friday I saw the task and grabbed for my trusty idea list. Ugh, there was nothing left. As time has passed, I’ve used the idea for a post, the idea has ceased to be relevant or I just couldn’t develop the idea into a full blog post. ‘That’s ok,’ I thought, ‘I’ve still got time’. Except I don’t. I’m slammed with a work project.

Honestly, I thought about bailing, but, out of necessity I had to bail several times last summer during the Family Health Crisis that WOULD.NOT.END. My NHWN teammates aren’t sitting around eating bon bons by any stretch, they are all busy too, so Suck it up buttercup and come up with something to write about.

I did the Winnie the Pooh Think, Think, Think, thing several times over the weekend but with zero success. When I sat down to draft this, the old family catch phrase sprang to mind.

“I’m a Nun and I ain’t go nuthin’.”

I chuckled to myself because hey, it is once again Halloween and the little boy is now a dad to two boys of his own and has a successful career in law enforcement. To see him now, he’s kind of intimidating, and I’d recommend against crossing him while he’s working. But, I knew the boy that wore Spiderman Underoos and cracked us all up with his wit. I know the man who would go to the ends of the earth for his sons. He doesn’t scare me, we just don’t talk politics. Although I had absolutely nothing to do with it, I’m super proud of the man he has become. His uncle, the man who inspired me to write in the first place, would be proud too.

“I’m a Nun and I ain’t go nuthin’.”

So I hope my tale of writer’s block woe has entertained you. I’ll do my best to have a more writerly post next time.

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Lee Laughlin is a writer, marketer, social media consumer and producer, wife, and mom, frequently all of those things at once. She blogs at Livefearlesslee.com. She writes for the Concord Monitor and her words have also appeared in a broad range of publications from community newspapers to the Boston Globe. She is currently typing her first novel, a work of contemporary, romantic fiction on a mechanical keyboard.