Abigail Maynard

i have only been spitting out lyrics & delicious melodies for about 3 short years, yet lately i’ve been feeling that i’ve written all that is within me. how is it possible that i am already reaching a place that leaves me feeling as though i have nothing more to add? my little adventure is far from over, my song far from sung, so i am sure you are asking yourself, who is to blame?

there are two things here that i am trying to combat. the first would be writers block… just because i used to sit down & have a completed song in 5 minutes, doesn’t mean that song writing will always come with such ease. instead of sitting back & waiting for this block to pass, i have decided to try & work with it. my inspiration is still there. my passion is standing strong. the ways in which i write just need some adjusting.

the second thing is perseverance. with graduation, trying to figure out what my next steps were, & spending too much time at work, i barely had time to do laundry. the little time i had left in college station, i wanted to spend with the incredible people that have walked with me through the good & bad times (lets be honest, there weren’t many bad times) at A&M. so anything that took a lot of thought, struggling, or added more time commitments was quickly pushed aside. therefore, aspen (my beautiful taylor dn4) spent a lot of time hanging on my wall. judging by all the broken strings lately, i still don’t think he has forgiven me. but that is the beauty of my life for the next year. i will have a little responsibility with a part time job (if i can find one) & the rest of my days will be spend gardening & fighting the war of my art. i’m going to write, even when i’m not in the mood, going to think about every word that comes out of my mouth & every tune that is emitted from my guitar.

all i know is that i will not be looking back in a year wondering how i spent my time or if i could have done better. this is it baby, all out, hard work, sweat, tears, and frustration. that’s right, in the words of stefanie, i’m going to bring it!

I always knew, deep down, I was a texas girl…. this florida trip has only confirmed that. although I will be sad to leave my beloved woody behind, I’m extatic about getting back to texas soil tomorrow.

not only am I leaving woody behind, but I also leave behind hundreds of honey mooners, first time park visitors, & ‘celebrators’. something tells me they will all get along just fine, sans the maynard family.

to be honest, I’ve made a commitment to myself not to bring my own kids here until they’re at least 12. It would just end in too much screaming, crying, & stroller pushing.

I think I say this every year, but i’m fairly positive that I’ve never been so exhausted by a vacation.

good news, we are halfway through our florida vacation & we are still injury/hospital visit free. yet again, we are up & out before the sun, frantically trying to make it to the magic kingdom before the rest of the world.

so far we’ve been bowling 3 times, gotten our slurpee fix, & saw more than we bargained for on the sandy hollywood beaches. why old leathery skin men think it’s appropriate to wear speedos, I’ll never understand.

believe it or not, after 4 years of college, I learned some new things this week. apparently every bad driver in the united states lives in south florida & the only rule in this supposed ’sunshine state’ is that there are no rules. people like to keep it ‘loosy goosey’. I also learned that I’ve spelled the word ‘brought’ incorrectly my entire life. you’d think I’d be a little more ashamed about admitting that…

my favorite fun new fact is that riding in a 1996 suburban that runs on vegetable oil makes you smell like a giant french fry.

sweet sweet summer brings many things for me this year; time to read, relax by the pool, & search for the perfect vintage furniture to go in my newly aquired living space. ever since I can remember, summer has also provided memorable family vacations… let me stress the word memorable.

one could argue that going anywhere with the unruly maynard family is memorable, but add on any sort of travel & we have quickly escalated the category. our past excursions have taken place in isreal, ireland, london, Italy, & paris, but this summer we’ve decided to keep it domestic.

my alarm & I don’t have a good relationship as of 4 am this morning… was it really necessary for us to make it to the airport early enough to sit & wait for 1.5 hours before boarding commences? just like early morning flights, when you’re traveling with gregg maynard, it is essential.

either way, I’m writing this from the beautiful ft lauderdale airport as we wait for the rest of our party to arrive. 7 maynards. 1 baby blue stow & go minivan. daily dunkin donut runs. 8 days in florida.

stay tuned for damage reports.. I just hope someone warned the authorities.