Story Versus Event

At the writing retreat, Randi and I stumbled upon a website for travel writers. Mike Richard of Vagabondish, has this advice…

"Nobody Cares What You Did

This is especially important for budding travel writers seeking publication (and all the inevitable fortune and fame attendant to all published travel writers). It’s not about your own experience, but whether or not you can convey that experience in a way that’s interesting and engaging. A writer like Bill Bryson routinely takes the most mundane happenings and crafts narratives around them that will amuse even the most hardened humorless reader. Remember that it’s about the story, not the actually event."

And so it was that on Monday morning a sequence of events happened, and I decided to experiment with telling a story and an event.

The Story

Green smoothies may be the healthiest food on the planet. At least, the way, Victoria Boutenko, prepares them. I have been drinking them for the past few years. What green smoothies consist of are fruit, raw greens and water. That’s it. Apparently, we don’t get enough greens. Lately, I have been thinking that I need to increase the amount of greens in my green smoothies.

On Monday morning, this was what I was thinking. So, I increased my cup of spinach to more than 2 cups, added it to the banana, strawberry and pineapple that I had pre-blended. I was pleased with the colour; strawberries have the effect of turning the mixture to a brown colour, not very appetizing. Today I had the perfect amount of strawberries. I was ready to pour it into the jar to take to work. When I removed the blender lid, a few drops of green landed on the buttons at the front of the blender. Though I am not positive, I think I heard myself scream. I imagined the green liquid seeping into the middle where all the electrical wires are bundled together, and with a snap, crackle, and pop, my friend’s blender would have been toast. The blender I borrowed. I felt the urge to move quickly.

I reached for the clean (white, I would like to add) dishcloth, ignored the drops on the side of the blender jar, focused on the spots where it looked like the liquid could trickle inside. I turned the edge of the cloth to fit in the narrow space between the buttons.

I heard the roar first, and realized somehow I had pushed down on a button. By the time I touched the off switch it was all over. A wave of green had flung itself out of the glass jar (lidless) and sprayed on the counter, floor, cupboard, that white dishcloth and me. Everywhere I looked, there was green. When I looked at the jar, I realized I hadn’t really lost that much volume, but what had escaped had spread itself quite stunningly. Where was the undo button?

My green smoothie escapade got me thinking about life in general….
- Sometimes when you try to clean a small mess, it gets worse.
- Just when you think you are having an ordinary moment, something comes along and changes it all.
- What happens in one short span of time, can take 100 times longer to fix.
- It is much easier seeing something in retrospect, than when you are in the moment. Like how you could have done it different.



The Event

Monday morning, I decided to make a green smoothie. Business as usual. All was going well, with the fruit and water blended together. I was adding the spinach, an extra cup for good measure, and removed the lid to pour it into another glass container to go to work. As I took off the blender lid, a drop fell on the buttons at the front of the blender. I grabbed the dishcloth, and started cleaning up the mess. I must have pushed on one of the buttons because the motor started turning, and a splash of green leaped out of the blender and went everywhere. All over the counter, floor, cupboard doors, other dishes, and all over my white shirt. It was one big mess. I was hoping that this wasn’t a premonition for the rest of my day.