"Notes on Hard Times" by Ginny Foard

The music and togetherness created a happy space.

A preaching wrapped into a folk song, circling lessons with rhythm and life.“Notes on Hard Times

Ginny likes to connect the dots. As a child, her nose was in books. She followed the stories from beginning to end. She maneuvered pencil across page to convert smatterings of stars into sprawling constellations. She learned that maps, charts and globes are just jumbles of lines and squiggles with stories behind each one, adventures waiting to be shared.

She still likes working on life’s puzzles using stories. Sometimes those story dots connect up to a surprise ending. The adventures keep on happening. She enjoys them from her tiny post office box on Sullivans Island, South Carolina.

Author’s Talk

Ginny Foard (self-portrait)

Is Monday morning quarterbacking too easy? First you see what happened. Then you explain it, and you ignore all the things that contradict your explanation. You are brilliant, because you can predict the past. How silly that the players didn’t see it while they were in the middle of playing the game. 

Life can be similar. You go along, day by day, you don’t see a big picture. Maybe you don’t even care. You are like the dog on a leash, exploring options as you wander down the sidewalk. Then you glance behind and suddenly realize that the whole time, you have been making your way through a maze, always heading straight for that gigantic ice cream sundae that you now find your face leaning against. 

Or possibly you can pick out any pattern you want, if you put your mind to it. 

Here is an example of finding a pattern that I hadn’t realized might be there.—Ginny Foard