30 Days of Blogging, Day 9: A Piece of Art or Sculpture That You Really Like

I'm going to cheat on this one and talk about both a piece of art and a piece of sculpture because I can't choose between the two.  Not that I'm saying sculpture isn't art.  I didn't write the prompt, people, I'm just responding to it.

This is the "Bird Girl" statue created by Sylvia Shaw Judson, a member of the Shaw family that owned what is now the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, Illinois.  I've done two writing residencies at Ragdale, and both times I was overwhelmed by the spirit of creativity that just sort of oozes out of the walls in that place.  This statue, the last time I was there, sat in front of the newly renovated Barn House.  In the photo at left, "Bird Girl" is situated somewhere in Savannah, Georgia--she rose to fame on the cover of John Berendt's Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil.  I couldn't find a photo of her at Ragdale that showed this level of detail, though.  "Bird Girl" is typical of all Sylvia's sculptures, many of which are on the Ragdale grounds--they're very simple and incredibly beautiful.  You can see more of Ragdale (and Sylvia's sculptures) in this blog post.

You've probably seen this painting before.  It's Un Dimanche Après-Midi à lÎle de la Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat, on display at the Chicago Art Institute.   My husband and I went to Chicago to visit a friend not long after we were married, and that was the first time I saw this paiting in person.  It's enormous.  I didn't grow up going to museums, so I hadn't seen a lot of art--and honestly, it had never occurred to me that paintings came in different sizes.  I figured they were all just, you know, painting-size.  I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's true. 

Then, right after I finished my MFA, my husband and I went to Paris to visit our friend Michael.  He was in the Foreign Service and living in Paris at the time, so we had a free place to hang out while we explored Europe with the assistance of our much-more-worldly friend. We saw an exhibit of Seurat paintings while we were there, including the studies he did while composing La Grande Jatte (though not the painting itself--the CAI doesn't loan it out anymore, apparently, after it was almost destroyed by a fire at another museum.)  There were sketches of all the characters in this painting in different poses, and that's when it occurred to me that artists didn't just start at one end of the canvas and paint their way across, or start in the middle and head for the edges.  Again, I know that sounds crazy, but it's true.  We bought a poster of this painting at the end of our museum visit.  It's framed now, hanging in my living room, and it's the only souvenir we brought back from that trip to Paris.  (We were young and broke.  The poster was cheap.  The framing, done years later, was not.)

Later during that trip, we happened across the Seurat family tomb in the Pere Lachaise cemetary--completely by accident, but it seemed kind of fitting, after seeing the exhibit.  I stuck some flowers through the grate on the front of the tomb, and I still remember that as one of the most important things I did while I was in Paris.

30 Days of Blogging, Day 8: Reasons Why You Love Your Significant Other

Well, this is a nice change of pace after yesterday's disappointment-fest.  This is a list that could go on indefinitely, but here are a few reasons:

1.  Because I knew, ten minutes into our first conversation, that he was the person I was supposed to be with for the rest of my life.  I could even tell you what he said that brought about this revelation, but then I'd have to relate the whole conversation for that sentence to make sense. 

2.  Because he has a wicked sense of humor that very few people know about.  He's very quiet, but when he speaks up, he's hilarious.

3.  Because he'll always do the right thing, even when it's not the easy thing.

4.  Because he goes out of his way to be nice.  Last weekend we went to IHOP for breakfast after church, and when he saw a woman approaching the front door carrying a baby in a carrier, he jumped up and opened the door for her.  He wasn't the person closest to the door, but he didn't wait to see if one of those people was going to help out.

5.  Because he's a really good dad, available and supportive but not a doormat or a cash machine, like so many fathers are.   

6.  Because he genuinely wants me to succeed at whatever I do, and he takes pride in my success rather than feeling threatened or diminished by it.

30 Days of Blogging, Day 7: Someone from the past who disappointed you

I really don't like thinking about things like this.  I'm big on moving ahead and leaving the past in the past, where it belongs.  But, okay.  In the spirit of completing the list.

There was a guy I knew in graduate school.  I can't say we dated, exactly, but we hung out together constantly.  When we weren't hanging out, we were talking on the phone.  We had one of those relationships that makes you sit around and think "What is this, exactly?  What are we doing?"  The answer to that question seemed to change on a pretty regular basis, and in retrospect I think that was intentional.   

We had a lot of things in common.  I really wanted that relationship to work--I liked who I was when I was with him, and I liked the way he saw me (or, at least, the way I thought he did.)  But toward the end of that relationship, whatever it was, he played a very cruel joke that left me feeling humiliated.  I don't know if he intended for me to feel that way, but I'm not sure how he could have anticipated a different outcome.  THen again, maybe that in itself says something about him.

I wrote a story about this guy many years later (of course). It ended up being more non-fiction than fiction, though I did change the ending.  Most of the people I know who've read that story seems to understand, without being told, that they're reading about a real person and not some figment of my imagination.  Every one of them has said something like "You're lucky you found out who he really was."  I suppose they're right, but I didn't feel lucky to know it then and I don't feel lucky now.  Just sad, even all these years later.

30 Days of Blogging, Day 6: Someone From the Past that You'd Like to Get in Touch With

This is a pretty hard one, actually.  There are many people I've lost touch with over the years; some of them have tracked me down on Facebook, and one of them wrote me an actual letter after reading my novel.  I'm always glad to hear from people I used to know, but I'm taking this topic to mean "someone you might actually consider reaching out to yourself."  That's a much more difficult question.  (See my Day 2 post if you need an explanation as to why this might be.)

Probably, though, the answer would be my friend Susan from high school.  We became very good friends very quickly at the beginning of our senior year; I was never a person with a big friend network, and Susan was really the first "best friend" I'd ever had.  After high school, we went to the same college but joined different sororities--so of course we made different friends and didn't see each other as much.  We also developed different priorities, and after awhile we just didn't understand each other very well.  I moved off campus and became a vegetarian.  She got more and more enmeshed in sorority life.  It got to be difficult to spend much time together at all.

I don't know if Susan and I would have much in common these days, but I'd be interested in finding out.

30 Days of Blogging, Day 5: The Best Thing in Your Life Right Now

Easy question today.  My little family has always been the best thing in my life. 

At first, it was just me and The Hubs.  For six years we just had fun together, going to movies and trying out restaurants and taking road trips whenever we wanted to hit the road.  The early part of our marriage was one giant adventure. 

Then our daughter was born--she hated riding in the car until she was old enough to sit in a forward-facing car seat, but after that she was a terrific traveler.  She spent most of her time around adults because we took her with us wherever we went.  By the time she was two, I was telling people that having a toddler was just like having a little roommate.  That's the kind of kid she was.

Our son was a surprise addition to the family, a wonderful surprise.  He was the easiest baby ever born--all he did was eat and sleep and smile and snuggle up with me.  When he got a little older, giving him a hug and kiss at bedtime was the best part of my day.  He was the very best hugger. 

I always knew I wanted to be a mom, but I didn't know how much I'd enjoy being part of my family.  There's really nothing I'd rather do than hang out with these people, and knowing I get to come home to them makes even the hardest days easier to get through.
  

30 Days of Blogging, Day 4: A List of 20 Favorite Things

In no particular order:
 
1.  Coffee
2.  Making bread
3.  October
4.  Red wine--in particular, Middle Sister Rebel Red
5.  Tulips 
6.  Polish on my toenails, never on my fingernails
7.  My Microplane lemon zester
8.  Planet Hollywood's white chocolate bread pudding
9.  A chai latte on a rainy day
10. Taking a run when it's chilly but sunny outside
11. Yoga pants
12. Softlips Vanilla 
13. The smell of pine trees (Not fake pine scent.  Ick.)
14. Cadbury Mini Eggs (Not the creme eggs.  Ick.)
15. Long walks in quiet places
16. NPR
17. Lemons, lemons, lemons
18. Salmon
19. Barbecue
20. Staying home on a rainy day

30 Days of Blogging, Day 3: You Favorite Quote

"Only the hand that erases can write the true thing."  ~ Meister Eckhart

I love this quote for many reasons.  First, it's about writing--or, specifically, it's about revision.  This is a quote that debunks the importance of the first draft.  Lots of young writers want to believe that their first draft is the "truest" draft, the closest thing to what was really on their minds when they were writing.  I know this because I used to be one of those writers.  Over time, though, you learn that revision is where you figure out what you actually meant.  As I tell my students, "You have to make the clay before you can do anything with it."

I also love this quote because it's about learning to live with integrity.  You can't understand the story of your life unless you're willing to re-write some chapters when new information arises and new wisdom surfaces with age and experience.  You can't believe the same things throughout your entire lifetime if you're learning and growing.  "I was raised to believe . . . " is one of my least favorite phrases.  I was raised to believe many things that I don't believe anymore, and I don't believe those things because my experience of life has proven them to be untrue.  If you're going to live with integrity, you have to be open to doubting the people you love and erasing pieces of their influence.  That's never an easy thing to do, but it's a necessary part of living in the truth.