Just Write {36}

May 21, 2012

Finally, I had time to sit with all of the submissions to the Use Your Words essay contest. With each and every one, my heart found touchpoints, the kind that mothers feel when we share our stories, the details of the beautiful mess. Reflections. She said, the lights were too bright in the hospital and she said she was scared on African soul, a new boy put in her arms, he’s yours now.

What do I do with him? Where do I start? Who will tell me what to do? 

:::

She said she was scared on a hospital bed, arms spread out in the operating room. My life is over and begun. 

Every word and every line and every essay, a theme. We are all so scared at the start–that enormous engulfing fear, like lava, she said, how she flew over a volcano and saw Mother Earth spit it forth–covering and engulfing. Swallowed.

Oh you Mamas. I loved your words and I sit with them and shake my head like how in the world will I choose one winner? Every single one holds such beauty. Thank you.

::::

It was just a garage sale but nothing is just anything and so it was there that I met mothers. Round bellied expectant ones and others redirecting their littles; Come back over here, stay by Mama. I want to reach out to every single one. Do just one kind thing because I know what they’re about to do and I know what they’re doing. And having words here with other mothers has confirmed my heart’s assumption that we are all the same and when we tell the truth of all the parts of this enormous job we find a connection that heals. It restores us to getting up to do it all again the next day, in whatever way that suits us.

So when she and I, we stood in front of my house and talked about a place for mothers, for women and others to come alive through creativity and life in person, Mother Earth stood still all around. This community, it needs this very thing, I wanted to scream it. It’ll be a workshop she said, for art. And mothers will be able to come with their kids, a place to hang out, little easels out in the sun for small hands to paint. My heart did all kinds of swell-y skipping fast around because for two years now I’ve been trying to figure it out. We need this place. Where should it be? What should it be? Who should do it? These questions have been pressing down hard on me and then she described it. Standing right there while she bought tables from my driveway to paint gray for the workshop.

Nothing is just anything. Everything is something and the miracle is showing up to watch the something unfold.

(Learn more about the Make. Do. Workshop on facebook.)

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This is the 36th installment of Just Write, an exercise in free writing your ordinary and extraordinary moments{Please see the details here.}  I would love to read your freely written words so join me and link up below. You can add the url of your post at any time. Just be sure it’s a link to your Just Write post, not to your main pageThen please link back to this post in your post so people know where to go if they’d like to join in.) (Any links not following those two guidelines will be deleted.)

Also. Please take a moment to visit someone else who has linked up! It’s a really good way to meet new writers and get inspired by the meaning behind their moments. Word?

{ 14 comments }

Shelly Miller May 21, 2012 at 8:58 pm

I once started a group for moms because someone had the idea and asked me to. There were about 100 of us that gathered every week and we got to know each others kids. Those were some of my most fond memories during those years when our kids were keeping us busy and many of us are still friends. Our kids are teens now. Your excitement about the possibility of something new made me think of that. You just never know how a little idea can turn into a memory for life.
Shelly Miller recently posted..Katie Couric and the Queen: My Brush With Fame

Stephanie Precourt May 21, 2012 at 9:30 pm

Oh that sounds wonderful. My friend Chrissy from Heart Box Studio is planning an art camp this year. I want to send the kids just so I can go, too.

Steph
Stephanie Precourt recently posted..Memory

tara/pohlkottepress May 21, 2012 at 9:31 pm

yes. to come along side each other. to bear witness. to be spoken to. to be and to receive love. how i want this too.
tara/pohlkottepress recently posted..Smoky Mountain Air

Gianna May 21, 2012 at 10:42 pm

This idea is so cool.
And the practical side of me wants to say it’s so cool because mama and child can enjoy making a mess together and mama doesn’t have to worry about her stuff getting all ruined and what to do with all the supplies, et cetera etc.
Gianna recently posted..Lament for Him

mandie May 22, 2012 at 12:05 am

“Nothing is just anything. Everything is something and the miracle is showing up to watch the something unfold.”

Yes. I feel this and wonder if I’m too dramatic, but goodness, there’s so much in it all. Glad for a similar soul.
mandie recently posted..Weekend Thrift Haul

charrette May 22, 2012 at 2:05 am

I ADORE your last line! And really, all your words. That whole image, of easels in the sun? is what I do with my class every day. Summer term we paint outdoors. I love it! They’re not little, but teaching is a different kind of mothering, nurturing. I feel so blessed to be able to do both.
charrette recently posted..One Red Thread and Several Red Seas

Elaine May 22, 2012 at 11:09 am

I just ADORE how you can see so much in the goings on of a garage sale, Heather. Beautiful.
Elaine recently posted.."The Bronx is up and the Battery’s down…"

Liv May 22, 2012 at 1:41 pm

Nothing is just anything, everything is something! I love this.
Liv recently posted..on walks and bravery

Monica May 22, 2012 at 2:47 pm

So we can write about anything that inspires us? For example, the weather (clouds, music, movies, books, etc).
Monica recently posted..Joy and Pleasure

Heather May 22, 2012 at 9:44 pm

Yes! Anything that leaves you describing the details to see the beauty. So yea, pretty much anything!!

Salem Archer Anderson May 22, 2012 at 3:17 pm

What a small world, right?!
I need to find someplace like that near me…maybe it already exists and I don’t even know it!
I love your perspective on Life – there truly is beauty and meaning everywhere!
Salem Archer Anderson recently posted..time marches on {just write}

Alexandra May 22, 2012 at 10:57 pm

It’s you.

YOu just bring out the sense of community in people.

All you.
Alexandra recently posted..When "Good Morning" Leaves You Stumped For An Answer

Tracie May 23, 2012 at 12:02 am

That is such a beautiful idea.

“the miracle is showing up to watch the something unfold” — I love that.
Tracie recently posted..The Night I Tried To Call

Kori May 23, 2012 at 7:38 pm

I want to live where you live. Moms here don’t like me much because I am a breastfeeding, writing, compost-heap-making mama. And a Democrat. And an Episcopalian.
Kori recently posted..Not Sleeping

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