Tag: 30-Day Challenge

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Day 05

Day 05 – A picture of your favorite memory.

Well. Now that’s a tough call. How to capture a picture of my favorite memory…there are many, of course. I played a video of my life in my head while thinking about it, and for a brief moment thought the best picture would be the cheesy grin on my face while I settled into my favorite chair and thought about it.

I have many wonderful memories from my childhood from running around the neighborhood playing hide and seek, to riding bikes to the pool, to carefree summer nights sitting on car hoods and looking at the stars. Family outings and picnics and special events with my family are the foundation of who I am.  All of those merit a place in my hall of fame of memories.

Of course, the second half of my life (and more if I really do the math) has been filled with warm family memories…my husband, our kids, the nieces and nephews and godchildren and all their amazing and wonderful milestones deserve their place as my favorite memory, too.

So, too, the friends I’ve had over the years. Those who have been near me forever, and those who come in and out for a season, but still leave their mark.

Choosing one, then, has been a difficult process, but I did it. It’s a picture of roses. When we were first married and living in Germany, away from family and friends and everything that we knew, John was in the habit of going to the train station to pick up the newspaper very early on Sunday mornings. I’d make coffee while he was gone, and more often than not, he’d show up with the paper, some pastries, and flowers for me.

Those were care-free times. They were pure as the snow in the picture, and lovely and romantic like the swans. Oh, we thought we were struggling…we didn’t have very much money or a fancy house, and his car was held together with bondo and spit, but we were happy in the simple things that filled our days. We had each other, and that was enough.

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Day 04

Day 04 – A picture of your night.

Oh. It said night, not knight.

Well, so there’s my night. Once again, a highly interpretive little thing, “a picture of your night.” I tend to like to sleep at night. Thus, a picture of the inside of my eyelids. But you know, part of sleeping is dreaming, so I thought I’d share something else. I dream in color. Not always, but when I do it’s pretty cool. And it looks like the ceiling of the Opéra Garnier in Paris. Without the goats.

I really love the colors that Chagall uses, only, the floating goats are a little too much. In all fairness, though, this is actually my favorite Chagall painting:

It’s called Self-Portrait with Muse and I fell in love with it when I first saw it almost 30 years ago. In fact, I had been rather tepid about the Chagall museum until I saw this painting up close and contemplated the origins of inspiration. I explain it a little here, and am reminded of another painting, too. Many years later I  would go full circle and encounter a very different painting, this one by Rembrandt, St. Matthew and the Angel, and I suppose, with my refined (read that older and mature) sensibilities, found it moving, more so than when I first saw the Chagall. I was drawn to this Rembrandt painting at a traveling Louvre exhibit in Atlanta, and circled back to it several times, drawn to the Angel.

Years passed between the time I saw the Rembrandt painting and I thought about writing again. Something remarkable happened and I started making a connection between my own writing and the Divine source of that inspiration. It wasn’t a cascade or domino effect, but a gradual awakening, guided a little by a mortal muse, but a muse nonetheless.

By the way, the real picture of my night, in case you missed it, is a little trip into my head…

 

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Day 02

Day 02 – A picture of you and the person you have been close with for awhile.

What? Define “for a while.” Is that 32 years? Like with my hubby?

Does it mean bestie? Yes? We’ll go with that, at about 12 years.

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