Play

Last night after dinner, we began talking to our neighbors... the conversation progressed and ended up with them coming over to play wii. 2 adults and 2 thirteen year old girls. We were all talking and having a good time, then noticed one of the girls wasn't in the living room playing. Instead, she was sitting on the kitchen floor, with a notebook in hand, writing. I sat down with her and talked a bit. She has several books that she's written, sitting in her room. Hundreds of pages each. She has books of poetry she has written.

We talked for awhile about writing, but I wanted her to join the group and play. She refused. Her dad demanded she come out and play, she wrote more. He told me that's how she is. She has no idea how to play. I'm very impressed that she is so excited about writing, but she is thirteen! She is a loner, prefers to keep her nose in her notebook. And she doesn't know how to play.

That could have been me, and I'm so glad it isn't, honestly. It taught me a lesson about myself. The VERY thing I've been struggling with all week, I saw. Isn't that amazing? I will work to create more of a balance, making my evening time about writing more. But I will also play.

I meant to write a post today about the balance in my life, the yin and the yang... the opposing things that pull me to and fro.... and well, I guess I sort of did. But not like I had planned, so more on that soon.

Seeking New

I have been seeking out new things lately. Seeking organization, patterns, routine. Yet, at the same time, seeking a way to be more random in my art. About a month ago, I was asked to make a custom journal. No problem, I told her and asked what she had in mind. She told me the specifics. And one of her requests was to put fuzzy strings on the binding. And I could picture exactly what she meant. Like, tons of these fuzzy strings, a few inches long, loose, hanging there. And my mind fought and fought me as I did it. In the end, it had order, it looked neat. And it wasn't what I was going for.

So this week, in my friendship journal, I will be getting out the crayons. I will be meditating and trying to get in touch with that inner child. The one that's never really been allowed to play.

I'm doing my friendship journal with 2 online friends. Each journal has 6 signatures, so we have 3 journals out there, and we each fill in 2 signatures on each one, then pass it along to the next on a certain schedule. A signature is a group of pages, by the way. We will end up with the journal we started with. So far, each one is at person #2. I can NOT begin to tell you what a bonding experience it has been. I know beyond any shadows of doubt that I have made friends for life with these 2 lovely women. And I know that before it's all over, we will laugh, we will cry, we will play, and we will pour out our souls through these books.

And who knows, perhaps there will be another set down the road :-)