Introduction of Cypress

  Introduction of Cypress

         My fourth grade teacher asked us to write a short story.  I wrote, “The dog chased the bear, the bear chased the cow and the cow ran up a tree.” 
         I asked, “Why did you give me a “D?”
         She said, “Because cows can’t climb trees.”
         “You asked for a short story, not a true story.”
         She made me keep the “D” so I retired from writing, but my writing retirement ended when a beautiful young princess leaned on me at her grandfather’s grave and I knew I must write.  These may not be short stories and you may question their truthfulness, but I must write them.
         This is a herky jerky frog-kissing book and it doesn’t fit any literary genre; the closest category would be an epistolary novel, which is a series of letters directed to an undisclosed or fictional person.
         I call these letters to my princess essays, even though some people think of essays as true personal experiences.

Some of my Terms

         “Herky” means happy and humorous things that bring a smile to your face and a warm glow to your heart.
         “Jerky” means things that are tougher and might cause a tear.
         “Frog-Kissing” is helping people to see themselves in a better light and helping them use them use their improved self image to become the prince or princess they want to be.
         “Highwire” is where I go each morning and evening to look up for guidance and then down at the world where I must do my frog-kissing.
         This book isn’t about religion or church, however, I was active as a layman for over thirty years; I then became a minister and served in that capacity for thirty years.  My writing has a mild religious flavor but my view is balanced between the pulpit and pew.
         I have retained all rights and have a generous policy with newspapers, magazines, and others who want to publish individual pieces.
         Romance is not enough herky and not enough jerky for me, so I don’t write about it.  I could write a hundred true essays about “busted love” but most of them wouldn’t reveal any unique truths.  If it wasn’t for busted love the song writers would be out of business.  I love their songs and know the words but don’t write about any of them – except those sung by Tennessee Plowboy Eddy Arnold.
         I dream of a Cypress Creek Kid column, a Barney the Barnyard Philosopher column, and perhaps a Fast Food Gypsy column.
         I’m a happy and cheerful person even though I write about the sad and traumatic.  You will see from my essays that I have enough toughness to help people through the fires, floods and storms of life, and that’s what frog-kissing is all about.

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