Amie Stuart ~ On the Back Porch

A strange thing has happened the last few mornings. I woke up happy. I know this might seem strange but normally I just wake up. The last two mornings I’ve woken up almost GIDDY. (I Should probably save this for my Monday blog post at SFC but oh well)

Strange indeed and I can’t explain the happiness (despite the impending deadline). Spring is here, the book is coming along, I have no kids this weekend, and life is good. I feel optimistic and dare I say, poised on the edge of something, almost as if I’m holding my breath….waiting.

So what’s the point of all of this?

I watched Eli Stone this morning. And if you’re not familiar with Eli you have no idea what you’ve been missing. Eli is a lawyer at a top San Fransisco law firm who suddenly begins having halucinations. All of which are geared toward him taking cases involving underdogs, helping the common man etc. It involves George Michael and has a real spiritual bent to it–because Eli’s acupuncturist/friend believes that Eli is a prophet. The truth of the matter is Eli has an (almost) inoperable brain aneurysm that they think are causing his visions–except his visions keep coming true. So, I’m watching last week’s episode–the one about the earth quake, where Eli’s boss (Victor Garber from Alias who I LURVE) nearly gets voted out of the company while Eli is trying to get the city to close the Golden Gate bridge because he believes this HUGE earthquake is coming.

So anyway Victor makes this wonderful speech about how every company, every law firm, every-body needs an Eli to basically keep them human. I had chills and I sat there watching it (and yes I know it’s TV *eyeroll*) praying PRAYING that Eli was right and that the earthquake really was going to happen.

Meanwhile in court this fringe scientist who also has predicted this earthquake gets on the stand and he said something that really hit me, so I ran for a pen and jotted it down.

FAILURE IS MERELY A ROAD TO SUCCESS.

Wow…….just WOW! Say that out loud! Good stuff, huh?

It reminds me of another favorite quote of mine, taken (hold onto your hats) from a non-fiction memoir that was later debunked as completely untrue (years before James Frey I might add).

“. . .sooner or later we must step out in faith. We must lead, if only to become responsible for ourselves.” —-M. Morgan

Whether the book was true or not didn’t matter. When I read that book, I needed those words and ultimately, I think that’s what mattered. It was about faith. Just like that episode of Eli Stone was about faith.

And yes, the earthquake happened.

Here’s the clip (You can also watch full episodes online at abc.com)

And Because EVERYONE should see Victor Garber sing and dance.

Also, Raine is blogging about writing and if it’s worth it and Charlie….Shelley Munroe is blogging about um bottom spreading over at NAS.