Just Enough to Get Me in Trouble

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I knew this would happen

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Hanging out at the intersection between the stories we tell others and the stories we tell ourselves. Personal, vulnerable, and sometimes funny essays from a husband, father, and disability advocate, delivered every Saturday at exactly 8:08 am PT.
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I knew this would happen

I'm so predictable

Lyle McKeany
Nov 5, 2022
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I knew this would happen

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As I write this note before my main piece below, I’m at a writer’s retreat with some friends from Foster in the Catskills near Woodstock, NY. It’s beautiful here during a beautiful time of year. I mean, look at this view from the upstairs deck:

And while this is a writer’s retreat, I’ve been doing much more visiting than writing. Many writing ideas are in progress in my head but they have yet to make their way to a physical notebook, the Notes app on my phone, a Google doc, or whatever.

I did, however, write the words below before I flew out here the other day, so that’s what I have for you today. Enjoy.


Here I am, lying in bed, staring at my phone, because I can’t get back to sleep.
Usually, at this hour, 12:37 am, I’m awake. I stay up late because I have to give my daughter meds in her feeding tube while she sleeps in the hopes that they help her continue to sleep until the morning.

But this night, my wife was kind enough to take over that duty, to let me keep sleeping. And yet, I woke up. And now I’m here writing this instead of sleeping, which I sorely need to be doing right now.

See, I need to catch an early flight at 6:15 am.

And see, I need to leave about two hours early in order to be on time for said flight.

So you can see, my available and precious time for some much-needed rest is quickly dwindling away. The excitement and the really-hoping-I-didn’t-forget-to-pack-something thoughts running through my head instead of the nonsensical rapid-eye movement dreams I’d inevitably forget in the morning.

Now I can see a mediocre nap after a mediocre in-flight meal in my future.


I originally published this on my Nicheless blog.

If you liked this one, let me know by giving the heart button below a tap.

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I knew this would happen

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I knew this would happen

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Rita McKeany
Nov 5, 2022Liked by Lyle McKeany

Enjoy yourself and take it all in. Love, Mom ❤️

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Lynn Childress
Writes A Delicate Bloom of Learning
Nov 5, 2022Liked by Lyle McKeany

When I went on a writer's retreat, it turned out to be all about conversations, enjoying nature, and getting centered. In the end, I just did some daily journal writing that I would have done at home anyway. Of course, I criticized myself for not being productive and using the time wisely to write. I rationalized the lack of a written result by telling myself that it was a "retreat from writing" not a "retreat to write." I would do it again, but without any expectations of what might come of it.

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