I’m in the middle of reading Samantha Dunn’s memoir Not by Accident – Reconstructing a Careless Life.  I’m reading it because I’m curious about how she structured her memoir.  I’m also reading it because I know she lived to tell the tale (she’s an instructor in the Writers’ Program at UCLA Extension).

But I keep coming back to something written within the first few pages of the book.  Ms. Dunn’s friend tells her, “God touches us with a feather to get our attention.  Then if we don’t listen, he starts throwing bricks.”

Sometimes that’s how I feel.  That I don’t pay attention to the smaller, more subtle signs, and it’s not until something more drastic happens that I sit up and pay attention.  And let me just say that within the first month of 2017, there have been a few brick-throwing instances sent my way.

I’m going to really try to learn to start paying attention to the feathers.