Life Lessons and Crumbs

Since this is my first blog post ever, I should probably introduce myself. That would be the appropriate thing to do. . . Right?

Hi,

My name is Elizabeth T. Graves. You can call me Lizzie if you want even though it's not required. And no, to answer your question that's not my real name. I have a wonderful husband and three incredibly spoiled cats: Peanut, Friday, and Lilo. I will be thirty years old in July.

I'm an author by hobby and nurse by trade. So, I use a pen name. You know, like my own privacy policy. I've been a nurse for about eight years now. Wow. That's really weird to say. I've been working at my local hospital since I was twenty-two. Nursing really is a work of heart. It takes special people to take care of others.

I've learned in life and throughout my nursing career that empathy is best. You never know what your patient is really going through. What that stranger that bumped into you on the street is going through. Or maybe even your best friend that tells you everything. It just never hurts to stay humble and kind.

Life has such a powerful way to teach you lessons. Whether you believe in a higher power or a karmic justice system in this universe, or nothing (which is perfectly fine) . . . Life has an incredible way of showing you where you need to be. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I was having a hard time mentally. As I'm certain everyone else was too. Processing through intense trauma and grappling with anxiety and depression seemed to be all I could process during that time.

I needed an escape route. A way to not think about this crazy world/fever dream we were living in. So, I started writing. I began writing a story about superheroes called We Were Legends (I'm still working on it by the way) and it really helped get all of those anxious thoughts out on paper. Writing stories turned out to be exactly where I needed to be along with being in therapy and changing my perspective on life. Writing really helped change the way I viewed the world.

So, a few years later in September of 2023, I married my husband; and I was still working on We Were Legends. I wasn't getting ANYWHERE with it. I was stuck with every ounce of writer's block you could think of. I struggled with this for a whole month until October 31st, 2023.

I was sitting on my bed playing guitar. "Silver Springs" by Fleetwood Mac to be exact and my husband was playing a Supernatural promotion on his phone. The one where they made a skit from Ghostbusters.

Yeah. That's a good one.

So, I kept playing the Fleetwood Mac song and the promotion kept playing . . . all of the sudden I had this crazy idea. What if I turned a Supernatural type-world into a love story?

Then BAM. No Return to Eden was born. It took me about a year and a half from start to finish. And now it's set to release March 31st, 2025. I can't tell you how nervous I am. I will confess, this is the most nervous about anything I've ever been. I have really really been doing some stinkin' thinkin' as my therapist would say.

To be honest, the book release has really all I've been focusing on. . . until today. Remember how I talked about life lessons?

Today, I went out with my husband, we had a great day. We went out to eat. He took me to the bookstore (I know he gets a gold star for that one.) But, something happened today that destroyed, dare I say, leveled my stinkin' thinkin'.

My husband and I went by the mall to go to the food court for a bite to eat at our favorite cheap little restaurant we like. I sat down and picked up my fork. When I look up, I see this man. He's wearing a loose fitting, grey suit, blue slippers. . . and seven cross necklaces around his neck. This man was also carrying a Bible. I was under the impression that he would sit next to me.

No big deal.

But he began doing something that really changed my thinking: he began to pick up crumbs from the floor. Crumbs. He wouldn't make eye contact, even if I tried or when I tried to speak to him to ask him if he needed anything, still—No eye contact, no speaking. Obviously, he could have been nonverbal or maybe he couldn't hear me... who knows? Either way. He was just minding his business and picking up crumbs and straw wrappers from the floor and putting them in a small garbage bag. He seemed so content in whatever he was doing.

Without a care.

For whatever reason, it brought tears to my eyes. I cried through my entire lunch and I was stuck crying in my honey chicken and chow mein noodles. And it dawned on me that life might have been reminding me to just be content. Be confident in whatever you might be doing. Be humble. Don't judge others just because it looks a little different than what you would do.

And be kind. Some eat full meals while others... others search for crumbs.