Postcards from the Funny Farm

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Katelynn is a writer I ran across recently with a real hunger to write and connect through her writing. She has a very upbeat tone in all her posts and I was lucky to get her to guestblog at Postcards today. There is more 411 on her in the footer of this post. Enjoy her thoughtful and talented contribution!

Damien contacted me a few days ago and asked if I would be interested in doing a guest blog for him. He said he preferred the topic to be about inspiration or psychology. Since I know nothing about psychology I decided to go with inspiration (:

Because I write, not only on my blog but other writing outlets as well, inspiration is huge to me. Sometimes it’s hard to look around and feel inspired because we see our surroundings constantly. Everyday, there’s the same neighbors, same work place, same family, same habits. But if we look a little bit deeper, there’s always something there waiting for us, ready to jump out and surprise us.

One evening I was sitting down chatting to my dad, drinking a cup of tea and just enjoying the comforts of my family. My dad is from England, he came to Canada when he was 29 and decided to stay once he met my mom. I am extremely proud of my British heritage, possibly because of the novelty of it, but also because of the history. Taking a sip of his tea, dad started to tell me a story I hadn’t heard before.

A great aunt of mine had moved to Ireland with her family way back when. In this point in time the IRA were openly threatening and taking the lives of their opposition. Their influence was a constant worry for the Irish communities.

My aunt had been invited to a dance, her chauffeur, Teddy, drove the car to the entrance, helped her into the back seat and closed the door behind her. The manor where the evening was taking place was quite aways from my aunts estate and as they drove along the country roads, the sun set on the hills; it was a beautiful fall evening.

Turning a corner they came across a site I’m sure my aunt never forgot. A confrontation had occurred between the IRA and several other men. The men had been shot and left for dead along the roadside. Ordering her driver to stop, my aunt, not caring about her beautiful clothes, jumped out of the car and ran to the side of one of the men, his chest bloody and eyes distant. There was no pulse. Teddy called for her to come back, he warned that the IRA members might still be near and she would be in danger. She didn’t care, the went from one man to the next, checking for signs of life. Unfortunately, these are all the details I know of the story even though I have asked more family for details.

See what I mean about being inspired? Just when you think your family is normal and boring!

As bloggers it seems we’re constantly encouraged to join something, do something, or go somewhere interesting so we’ll have another topic to write about…and obviously there’s nothing wrong with that. But what about just sitting there, having a cup of tea with a relative, and finding out more of where you came from? If you’re even more adventurous, you could look even further in your background by hooking up with a family tree site and see what you come up with. Personally, I find it much more interesting to come from the horses mouth. Besides, family always enjoys company (:

Meet the Guest Blogger: Katelyn Jane, an Etsy Seller, creative blogger, wife and tea drinker, lives and writes in British Columbia, Canada. She loves riding her dog sled to work, inventing new storage ideas for her igloo and making leather with her teeth (or lack of).