Sunday, May 18, 2014
Monday, May 12, 2014
Bracelets and Janie
I've been completely covered up lately in filling bracelet orders and it's about the most fun I can imagine having. I wake up an hour earlier than my alarm clock goes off and wonder if I'd bother anyone if I started hammering at 5:45. The answer to that one is YES. So, I just lie there in bed and make my excited face and think about what I'll do today. I think about new phrases for cuffs and where I'll find some old belt that will be perfect for someone. I really want the phrase to mean to someone else what it means to me and to fully receive the message on it. It does help if they are cute.
My friend Janie asked for just about the hardest thing when it comes to these leather cuffs. She asked me to just make one for her - just make one that's just for her. No pressure. When I think about it, most of us have a word or phrase - kind of a motto - that propels us through life and I guess that's always subject to change, but if you think about it, you'll know yours in just a few minutes. But to describe someone else's and to want to get it just right because you love and admire someone is a different project. It's different because sometimes we don't see ourselves the way others do.
For the last two weeks I've described my friend Janie to all of my other friends and polled them on other phrases and ideas to try to get it just right. My friend Janie is a hard one to pin down. I sent her cuff out today and felt like she really needs an explanation for the phrase I've picked so I'm writing it here for her, and for you:
Dear Janie,
The very first day I met you your family invited me into your home (do you remember? Your mom was there!) and behaved like I was the most interesting guest. Just one more question, just one more story and then we could move on to the next thing. That was 8 years ago I think and we've never been ready for the evening to end. "Awwwww, don't go!" is a phrase I think we repeat at the end of every visit.
In 8 years of friendship I don't think you've ever gone to bed first. In fact, I am pretty sure I have a recording of you and Megan trying to talk me out of going to bed on more than one occasion because you're afraid we might miss something. For you, the summer night isn't the end of anything. It's just one more opportunity - a chance to see one more mama turtle, to finally figure out the constellations, to meet a stranger at the turtle nest who knew someone who might have known someone you one time met.
I think the curiosity that drives you to stay awake is the same thing that drives you in everything. The desire to not miss a thing, to encounter one more wonder is the thing that I admire most about you. I am not sure if your parents somehow instilled this mission to absorb every good thing in you or if you were just born that way, but it allows you to look at the world with wonder and so wonderful things appear to you. It's not that these wonderful things aren't available to others, it's that you are willing to SEE them as the wonders that they are.
This lens you have, the one that lets so much light into your life, must be the thing that caused you to take the risk of keeping a baby you knew might not make it and is definitely the thing that would make a person have 4 kids. I believe it's that perspective that must be what causes you to laugh so often and to keep filling salt water tanks with little dancing fish. I think it propels you onto every passing boat and keeps you rushing to make sure we don't miss a chance for the one thousandth sunset picture.
I think you have an inherent trust that the universe is operating just as God meant for it to and that allows you to find joy in every little living thing. I can't tell you how many times I've heard you tell our kids, "I just want you to appreciate this." Your gratitude for the things the earth offers you- a blue bird nest hatching just in time for your mom to witness it, a double turtle nest boiling under a full moon, a baby snake you kept in a purse even - is only possible if you have a mind like yours, Janie, one that can bear witness to the gift of goodness in all things. Perhaps it's linked to faith, perhaps just to thoughtful parents. Either way, I don't think you need to wear it as a reminder, but I do think you will be asked when you wear it what it means to you and I hope that you'll be able to say, "My friend loves that I look at the world this way."
What a wonderful, wonder full, world Janie. Go wait by your mailbox! Something wonderful is coming!
So very much love,
Lori
My friend Janie asked for just about the hardest thing when it comes to these leather cuffs. She asked me to just make one for her - just make one that's just for her. No pressure. When I think about it, most of us have a word or phrase - kind of a motto - that propels us through life and I guess that's always subject to change, but if you think about it, you'll know yours in just a few minutes. But to describe someone else's and to want to get it just right because you love and admire someone is a different project. It's different because sometimes we don't see ourselves the way others do.
For the last two weeks I've described my friend Janie to all of my other friends and polled them on other phrases and ideas to try to get it just right. My friend Janie is a hard one to pin down. I sent her cuff out today and felt like she really needs an explanation for the phrase I've picked so I'm writing it here for her, and for you:
Dear Janie,
The very first day I met you your family invited me into your home (do you remember? Your mom was there!) and behaved like I was the most interesting guest. Just one more question, just one more story and then we could move on to the next thing. That was 8 years ago I think and we've never been ready for the evening to end. "Awwwww, don't go!" is a phrase I think we repeat at the end of every visit.
In 8 years of friendship I don't think you've ever gone to bed first. In fact, I am pretty sure I have a recording of you and Megan trying to talk me out of going to bed on more than one occasion because you're afraid we might miss something. For you, the summer night isn't the end of anything. It's just one more opportunity - a chance to see one more mama turtle, to finally figure out the constellations, to meet a stranger at the turtle nest who knew someone who might have known someone you one time met.
I think the curiosity that drives you to stay awake is the same thing that drives you in everything. The desire to not miss a thing, to encounter one more wonder is the thing that I admire most about you. I am not sure if your parents somehow instilled this mission to absorb every good thing in you or if you were just born that way, but it allows you to look at the world with wonder and so wonderful things appear to you. It's not that these wonderful things aren't available to others, it's that you are willing to SEE them as the wonders that they are.
This lens you have, the one that lets so much light into your life, must be the thing that caused you to take the risk of keeping a baby you knew might not make it and is definitely the thing that would make a person have 4 kids. I believe it's that perspective that must be what causes you to laugh so often and to keep filling salt water tanks with little dancing fish. I think it propels you onto every passing boat and keeps you rushing to make sure we don't miss a chance for the one thousandth sunset picture.
I think you have an inherent trust that the universe is operating just as God meant for it to and that allows you to find joy in every little living thing. I can't tell you how many times I've heard you tell our kids, "I just want you to appreciate this." Your gratitude for the things the earth offers you- a blue bird nest hatching just in time for your mom to witness it, a double turtle nest boiling under a full moon, a baby snake you kept in a purse even - is only possible if you have a mind like yours, Janie, one that can bear witness to the gift of goodness in all things. Perhaps it's linked to faith, perhaps just to thoughtful parents. Either way, I don't think you need to wear it as a reminder, but I do think you will be asked when you wear it what it means to you and I hope that you'll be able to say, "My friend loves that I look at the world this way."
What a wonderful, wonder full, world Janie. Go wait by your mailbox! Something wonderful is coming!
Lori
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Best Poem of 2014 so far...
Found on the wall at a NYC public elementary school and written by a first grader this poem was featured as part of National Poetry Month (April). This is a delightful work.
In case you don't read 1st grade well, here's the transcript:
In case you don't read 1st grade well, here's the transcript:
We did the soft wind.
We danced slowly.
We swirled around.
We danced soft.
We listen to the music.
We danced to the music.
We made personal space.
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