I must watch the autumn leaves fall

 From the desk of Dan Price

Whatever you do, don't quit.

We must go for a walk and clear the mechanism. Okay. So I stole a phrase from Kevin Costner, better known as Billy Chapel in For the Love of the Game.

As I enter another phase of my life, I need to walk slowly and carry a pen and a notepad in my pocket. Actually, I’m not sure what phase I’m heading for.

Honestly, I’ve never been this far before. I know one thing for sure: I need to clear that mechanism. In my case, the mechanism lodged somewhere in my brain, allowing the millions of words to flow freely out my eyeballs down the tips of my fingers, and into print.

I can’t stop the flow.

A walk down a lane might help, So why do I still sit here with my two hands hovering over my laptop?

In my case, I foresee a crazy journey ahead. Why? I do not know.

I should be content sitting on the sofa and waiting patiently for The Young and the Restless to appear on my television screen. After all, things are really tough in Genoa City.

I glance at the long-lasting soap every now and then, because, at the age of 77, I have a buddy that heads up the Newman clan. That is Victor of course. No, I haven’t actually met the German-born film and television star Eric Braden, but he’s been around as long as I have, so I consider him a buddy — someone I grew up with.

After all, the man is 81 years old and was Hans Gruber in Combat (1962–64), Major Gerhard Bentz in 12 O’clock High in 1965, Captain Hans Dietrich — 58 episodes mind you — in Rat Patrol (1966–68), and eventually becomes Lieutenant Franz Von Klemme in the Western 100 Rifles (1969) alongside Raquel Welch, Burt Reynolds and a football dude named James Brown.

How he can still run a household in Genoa City is beyond me. I mean, this is 2022. It’s crazy! The man makes $5,000 an episode as Victor Newman, while I sit here waiting for my social security check on Wednesday.

Luckily, I don’t need the extra income I receive from my ramblings on my writers’ site, Medium, to survive my daily journey as a vulnerable adult.

Five cups of coffee in the morning, a walk in the park, a quick glance at the television set around the noon hour to see Eric and the gang, followed closely by another long-running soap, The Bold and the Beautiful.

Please don’t get me started on that one. Does Shiela ever die?

Of course, I return to my dungeon, sit down, open up my laptop and let all the words pop out. Many of the late-arriving words seem to be in a holding pattern above, desperately searching for a place to land.

I mean it’s not easy for those unruly words above. There is chaos below and, at times, this vulnerable adult wants to call it quits.

Then again, I’ve never been this far before. I want to see what is down the lane. The lane, not outside, but the lane where all the words are. They need me and I need them.

I will eventually make it outside, stroll down that beautiful path, take a deep breath and watch the autumn leaves fall.

Until then, I must write. I must never quit.