Day Seven: Self Portrait

I am not one to take photos of myself, and I am a terrible artist, so I chose a photo that someone took of me (it's very close, so you can pretend I took it of myself if you'd like). 

I chose this image for two reasons. One- it is a photo of me on the best day of my life, so what better day to have a self portrait than the day of my wedding. Two- it reflects a certain dramatic side that is most important to me in a self-portrait. I don't have any photos of myself on stage, but I wanted today's photo to be one in which I look like I might have just stepped off stage. Stage is where I feel most at home and most myself.

 

Day Six: I am good at...

being creative. I think of of my best assets is not only my crafting abilities, but my ability to find creative solutions to problems. I think growing up as an only child meant that I had to fend for myself much of the time when a problem came up and my parents weren't around. I think I've gotten pretty good at finding interesting solutions to problems. 

I also seem to have inherited my mom's flair for all things craft. She has more of a talent for the fine arts, but I am lucky to have received her eye for color and ability to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear (or an amazing bag out of fabric scraps). Thank goodness for her.

Day Five: Thoughts on Growing Old...

Right after my grandpa passed away, I remember being terrified of growing old because when you were done growing old, life was over. I didn't really understand life (or death, for that matter), and I didn't truly know what growing old meant. 

Since I met Matt, the idea of growing old doesn't worry me, it makes me happy and excited for the future. It means that I get to spend my life with someone who I truly love, and who genuinely loves me back. It isn't as scary as it once was. If I can be as happy in my lifetime with Matt as my grandpa was with my grandma, growing old will be the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Day Four: My Best Friend

This is a tough one. I've grown to stop assigning the term "best friend" to people. I have many friends, and I go to each of them for different things. When I saw this topic, it got me thinking about what being a "best friend" truly means. Being a best friend means that you are there for that other person, no matter what the circumstances. You call your friend for no reason, and are so close that no matter what you tell them it doesn't matter because they love you anyway. 

As a girl who grew up without siblings, I've always wanted that kind of connection with someone. I've wanted to feel like I had a sister in someone else. In college I met Jhoanna. she has become more than what I imagine a sister to feel like. We can talk about anything, and no matter how long we may have spoken the day before, we can double it the next day. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful friend.

I also have to mention my husband. I never get tired of being around him and I count on him for so many things. He has become my closest confidante and I trust him more than anybody. It's so wonderful to be married to someone I can call my "best friend".

Day Three: Generalizations are...

Generalizations are a terrible thing to make, but unfortunately inevitable. We all make them every day, and we judge every person we see or meet based on them. Maybe it's time that we all take a step back and examine things and people for what and who they truly are, instead of based on some gross decision that was made based on an unfair assumption. Probably tougher to do that we'd like to admit, but the world would be a whole lot better off that way.

Day Two: A Photo of Something You do to Keep Cool During the Summer Months.

This isn't so much what I do anymore, but it is something I did pretty regularly during my youth. My grandpa used to pick me up and take me for a vanilla cone dipped in that delicious hard candy chocolate shell to help keep the heat at bay during the summer. It is one of the best memories of my childhood, and of my grandpa. If you're suffering through this unbearable heat, take the time to treat yourself to a delicious chocolate dipped Foster's Freeze ice cream- I promise you won't be disappointed.

Day One: What is my favorite poem?

My first day blogging, and already a tough one. I LOVE poetry. I have too many poems that might qualify as favorites. As I went through my books full of Seamus Heaney, James Joyce, and Rudyard Kipling ("If" always reminds me of my grandma), my mind kept going back to a certain childhood favorite- Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. It's a wildly popular collection of poems, and it was a wonderful children's book, but as I read the words of the poem, the same words I read two decades ago as a child, I realized the poem is so much more important and marvelous than it once was. You can read it below and hopefully, you'll find your own meaning.

WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS

by Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.