It was a dark and stormy night when I sat down to write this, the Great American blog.  It wasn’t going to be easy, but you know what they say—no pain, no gain. 

A few minutes into the writing, I began to think of all the other things I could be doing instead.  Instead of sweating away at my keyboard, I could take the path of least resistance.  Instead of dyeing eggs this Easter, perhaps I should dye my hair.

Everyone knows blondes have more fun.

But then again, the grass is always greener on the other side, so I put my nose to the grindstone.  Even if I wanted to have my cake and eat it too, at the end of the day, you can only succeed by grinding it out and putting your blood, sweat, and tears into your work.  Success takes the stairs.

I turned away from the window and got back on track.

I wracked my brain for a topic, one that could stand out amidst the crowd.  In these modern times, everyone is running so fast and is so busy being busy that they never stop to smell the roses or read the blogs.  I didn’t want my ideas to fall on deaf ears.  I wanted something that would revel a tried-and-true nugget of truth, that would speak to people of all walks of life, from the blue-collar workers of real America to the academics in their ivory towers.

I would wait for an idea to come to me.  After all, good things come to those who wait.

I was definitely going to have to think outside the box for this one.

I just hoped my final blog wouldn’t be filled with clichés, which are so hard to avoid.  After all, clichés are clichés because they’re true.

Then the clouds parted and the sun came out.

Little did I know that right at that exact moment, my neighbors were preparing for an epic Easter Egg hunt.  Several kids were running around the yard looking for eggs, screaming like banshees and having the time of their lives.

Never a dull moment around here.

Perhaps I should throw aside my work and join them?  After all, all work and no play makes Melanie a dull girl.

In the nick of time, I was spared from making a terrible decision.  All of the sudden, there was a mass exodus from the yard into my neighbor’s bathroom.

Oh well, I thought, realizing my time to join the hunt had passed. 

When it’s all said and done, you win some, you lose some.

Easy come, easy go.

Yet every cloud has a silver lining—in the end, they hadn’t cooked the eggs long enough and they all ended up with salmonella poisoning.

Turns out that rose was full of thorns.

But don’t worry.  After an uncomfortable twenty-four hours or so…

They all lived happily ever after.