What's Inspiring Me...

"It's not your job to like me - it's mine."

"Would you rather be right or free?"

- Byron Katie -

 
Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by
You never get to stop and open your eyes
One day you're waiting for the sky to fall
The next you're dazzled by the beauty of it all

- Bruce Cockburn -

(from Lovers in a Dangerous Time)

Taking an August Break...

I'm taking an August break, but I'll still be here...I believe it's rather like a "blog staycation".  I learned about this from Monica at Bohemian Twilight and thought it would be a fresh change for the remainder of the summer.  Less words from me (can you stand it??) but more visual beauty.  By posting only photographs for the month of August this not only frees me from thinking (I could do with a bit less "thinking") it allows you to do more and not feel tied down to your computer as you quench your soul at the trough of my wisdom.  You can't see the face I'm making but trust me the eyes are crossed and the tongue is sticking out.  Take myself seriously?  I think not!!

There may be a few days where there will be some verbiage to accompany the visual but I make no promises.  It's just going to be whatever it's going to be.  I like that.  I hope you do as well and if you think this break is something you might enjoy, swing over to Susannah Conway's to sign up...there are quite a few people taking part.

I'm looking forward to challenging myself creatively with what I share and to seeing what others are doing as they make this August a much less "committed" month and we take the time to open channels to other things over the 31 days of change.

Joy Pockets

I've had a somewhat slow week which means there have been no appointments, nowhere that I have "needed" to be and no one who has needed me for anything.  Sitting back and thinking about what I've accomplished this week made me laugh because truly, I don't care if I accomplished anything or not.  I know that I got out of bed every morning and I ate food and I drank liquids.  I spoke to people and people spoke to me.  I breathed in and out. I looked with my eyes and I heard with my ears.  To be honest, I'm getting extremely weary of needing or wanting to feel that every day I have "done" something.  I have done things.  I won't say they are noteworthy or newsworthy but they existed and I did them.  That's enough.  Did I find joy in my pocket this week?  I did and maybe that's more satisfying than looking at a list, making ticks beside "projects" and saying, "hey, look what I did this week".

I had butterfly visitors in the garden...a couple of Monarchs and this beauty who only came for awhile but was happy to sit quietly while I moved ever closer to have an "I can almost touch you" view.  (and yes, I talk to them...they like that you know).

I laughed to the point that I had tears over a funny video sent to me by a friend.

I laughed in a much similar way as I shared something funny with the friend of one of my son's.

Summer rain that fell like a mist was a pleasure to be out in without an umbrella, even if I was squinting my eyes as it was falling into them.  And wet clothing dries.

A 2 mile walk that was long over due and being able to feel the pull in my leg muscles with each step I took as they carried me forward.

Being given the opportunity to guest post at Vision and Verb and feeling a sense of community.

Sales in my Bella Rennie shop and acknowledging that people see my work and enjoy what I create as much as I enjoy the creation.

Sharing thoughts and ideas with a friend over life, self discovery and meaningful ways to be in this life.

My children who come and go and how happy I am when they return whether it's been for a few hours or a few days.  This week has been a bit of a revolving door.

A drive on a very hot day to Panera to bring home some of those delicious cinnamon crunch bagels! (and the good friend who got me hooked!)

I'm linking up with Monica for Joy Pockets...see what joy others have discovered this week!

In My Dreams....

(artwork digitally created and then digitally manipulated)

My sleeping dreams have been extremely vivid and remarkably memorable over the last few weeks, so much more than they usually are.  It could be the heat bringing out these thoughts and experiences not to mention all these visitors I've been entertaining -- or maybe I'm just in a very relaxed, summer state and my thoughts are moving more freely.

I'm dreaming a lot about the deceased and that is always nice when those I've known, most of them whom I've loved come to visit.  They don't seem to be coming to tell me anything but it's a delightful way to spend time with them once again.

I have noticed that the conversations seem to be one-sided, though they do communicate with me in as much as I understand what they mean.  What has become very clear to me is that there are "things" they are not permitted to do or capable of doing.  I first noticed this many, many years ago -- I suggested that someone who was deceased could get out of the rain and get into my car.  I was "told" that this wasn't possible...the person could no longer ride in the car with me.  Last week I tried to give someone something...I was passing it and waiting for it to be taken out of my hands.  The person just smiled at me.  Didn't raise or lift arms, just smiled and I remember saying "oh, right, of course".  It makes me wonder what that really means. But they're just "dreams", right????

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If you missed my guest post over at Vision and Verb yesterday I hope you'll have a look.  Vision and Verb is a lovely site -- talented bloggers who share photography and thoughts.  It was a pleasure to be asked to guest post for them.

Guest Posting...

 
Today I'm guest posting at "Vision and Verb".  I hope you'll join me over there to see what I'm sharing and see what "Vision and Verb" is all about. 

It's an honour for me to join these talented writers/photographers, and it's rather exciting to be able to share my views and my thoughts with a wider audience.

See you there!

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand...

Helen Simonson's debut novel is a delightful and refreshing read.  Set in a small community in Sussex, England, Helen Simonson has breathed life and personality into some enduring and memorable characters, beginning with Major Ernest Pettigrew himself; the demur, respectable but strong Mrs. Ali; the Major's social climbing son Roger; and the feisty and outspoken Amina.  

This is not a "quick" read and the story doesn't move at a breakneck pace...it meanders and flows like a stilled river on a sunny summer afternoon.  There is a sense of time not needing to rush and I truly felt that I was living a small village life much as these characters were doing.  Characters?  I think that's a misnomer.  They became real, flesh and blood, breathing and feeling people to me.

As in any small village there are among other things, a Vicar and his wife, nosy opinionated neighbours where everyone seems to know everyone else's business and they do not hesitate to make it quite clear that voicing their opinions is their right and their privilege.  There are the upper and lower classes and a distinct line drawn between them.


Cultural difference, racism, self absorption, learning what matters in life, and love are all neatly tied into this heart warming book, and yet for all the seriousness of the subject matter, there is laughter throughout.  A sequel would be lovely but if that is not to be, I will definitely be keeping Helen Simonson on my radar for her future works, whatever they may be.

What's Inspiring Me...

Every now and then I reach a cross roads and a turning point.  I'm not sure if this is something "new" as it seems to happen more and more often or if they have always been happening but I'm only now more aware of the fact.  Maybe in the past I came to those cross roads and just moved in a direction without thinking about it.  Perhaps it is my awareness of "seeing" a cross roads that has made me more aware of the fact that they occur on a frequent basis.  I'm at one of those cross roads now.  I feel right now like I'm bursting with ideas and with promises...of things I want to set out to accomplish but have only managed to fulfill half way.  There is a need for clarity and purpose and I'm unable to see that because of a "haze".  That might just be the extreme heat talking but I think it's deeper than that.  I'm not struggling or stressing with it, I'm just allowing it to appear by keeping my focus on what is it that I want, what is it that I can do and how am I going to achieve that.  What inspires me about getting to that "place" is this excerpt from a letter written by Martha Graham to Agnes DeMille.

 (image found on google)

"There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost. The world will not have it.

It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how valuable it is nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you.

Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than others."

- Martha Graham, this quotation comes from a letter written by Martha Graham to her biographer, Agnes DeMille

I love the idea of keeping the channel open.  Leaving room for ideas to flow in and ideas to flow out and in keeping the channel open, it is my hope that the focus of where it is I am next meant to travel will reveal itself.

Days in the (Hot) Life...

It's much too hot these last few days to do much of anything,

but some things just have to be done...

I did get that mammogram yesterday....

they give you a beautiful gown

and if you've worn deodorant or baby power (which is a no-no...just don't put it on as it clouds up the images)

they provide wipes for you to remove it.  Do remember to pack some in your bag to apply afterwards, and here's a great tip..remember to peel off the tapes they put across the nipples.  I can't tell you the number of times I've left with them ON!!

And then I sat around and waited for the technician to come back after the radiologist had read the slides.  Sometimes they need an extra shot or two because something might not be clear.  I was told I was "free to go".  Interesting choice of words!  If I need anything else they will send me a letter.  I see the surgeon August 4th so whatever tale these tell, I'll find out then.

Afterwards we took a drive to Sugar Beach.  It's "new", at the foot of Jarvis Street in Toronto and called Sugar Beach because it is built at the site of the Redpath Sugar Refinery.  It's all man-made and there is no access to the water..just white sand, white chairs and pink umbrellas with a lovely view of the Toronto harbour and over to the Toronto Islands.

 It's an "oasis in the middle of the City"

and everyone was trying to stay cool...

There's a bit of a headache going on these days.  Could easily be tension from just holding back without really thinking about things.  The body has it's own way of coping.  It could also be the need to hydrate.

Today has been about quick errands, in and out, and perspiring easily even when in the a/c.  It's an iced decaf americano with a coconut syrup shot over lots of ice and a fast trip to the library where I picked up this book...

And I'm flipping through recipes like these...they make me feel "cool" and there are many recipes in this book that I think I will be trying.  

The young man working the desk at the library said that he didn't know Eva Longoria had done a cookbook and he flipped through some of the recipes.  He also told me that the cover looked interesting.  I replied that from his perspective I'm sure that it does!!  Even in the heat we can still share laughter!

It's That Time Again...

(image found on google)

It's that time of year again, the annual squeeze the boobies and press until flat.  Yes, I do joke about it and I make light of it...but for all that, make no mistake, I do take it very seriously indeed.

I don't look forward to being mangled and squished and lifted and placed and then flattened.   But more than that, I can't imagine not having an annual mammogram.  I don't leave my teeth without 6 month check ups so why would I want to leave my breasts?   I need x-rays to determine what is happening inside my teeth as much as I need a mammogram to see what is happening inside my breasts.

(image found on google)

(image found on google)

I'll sit and wait for the technician to bring me into the lab room and she'll place each of my breasts, one at a time, on the Plexiglas sheet.  She'll adjust the numbers and she'll compress that top glass to the bottom and yes, my breasts will flatten, even the one that had the surgery.  It pinches, there's no getting away from that...hold the breath for about 30 seconds and when the machine "releases" you just feel such an "aaahhhh" moment.  Until the next slide.  The most uncomfortable is when you are sideways and need to reach over the machine and hold that handle.  You're perched at an odd angle and holding your breath, but it's easily done.  E.a.s.i.l.y.

For me it's now more about the anxiety of waiting to see if these films will be "clean".  I don't lose sleep over it but there is no doubt the nagging, prickling, "what if" is there.  I'll conquer the anxiety because the bigger "what if" would be, "what if I didn't have an annual mammogram?"  No answers today, just the films.  I'll find out what these show when I see the surgeon for my annual follow up in a few weeks.  And I'll find ways to distract myself until that appointment.  I'd lie if I said that waiting for the follow up appointment wasn't nerve wracking. But I cope and think of all the things I can do, all the things I have to be grateful for and all the ways I've been blessed.

If you've never had a mammogram or never do monthly self exams, please start.  Consider it a gift you've given yourself.

Summer Citrus...

Thanks to this lady, I have developed a crush on orange and on citrus colours for summer.  I'm not normally drawn to oranges and corals but as often as I have seen and heard about orange lately, my eye seems now to be drawn to it.  Not only orange but oranges mixed with pinks.

While shopping in Tarjay on the weekend, I purchased this great bracelet set (I buy 98% of my jewelry from independent jewelry artists but now and then the price of costume jewelry can't be beat especially when it is seasonal) and Essie's "California Coral" which is currently gracing my nails.

The oranges I'm wearing may not be as bright as this table umbrella from my favourite local coffee haunt...

but they please me all the same....

and my Liz Claiborne t-shirt just rounds out the joy!

I'm feeling inspired enough to create something in shades of oranges and pinks. What summer colours are inspiring you?

What I've Been Thinking...

 

"Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go."

- Hermann Hesse -

Joy For Beginners

Always looking for something to read, I had seen this book and the title made me smile.  "Joy".  A tiny three letter word, but a word with a very large and varied interpretation.  Then I started to think about people who don't know Joy, who have never experienced Joy or maybe it's better to say they have never given themselves permission or allowed themselves to feel Joy.  Beginners at knowing, understanding and embracing Joy.  The "newbies"!  I was more than interested to read this book.  The fact that it features a breast cancer survivor was only minimal to my desire to read the book, but I fully understood and appreciated why someone who had experienced breast cancer would understand Joy and want to expose others to the benefits of it's beauty.  Joy is to be shared.  It can be experienced singly or in groups but if it is a group experience, no two descriptions will be the same.  

Challenges set, fears faced, looking deep inside to see who you are and what you can do.  Erica Bauermeister's characters did all that and more.  Loved, loved, loved this book.  I think you will too.

Are you a beginner at knowing Joy or are you experienced at seeking it, experiencing it and expressing it?

Weekend in the Country...

I spent the weekend in a place that looked a lot like this along the way and upon arrival.  Many farms (many smells!), a lot of breeze as we drove and that meant a lot of sneezing.  Allergens on high alert, bug guts on the windshield and surprisingly (or not), the peace and quiet of country roads and country living.  In a country that is not my own.

Some of that time was spent with people who looked like this, doing a lot of that.....

 

some dressed like this in temperatures and humidity that would force most people indoors to escape the heat...

and I sat under skies that looked like this...

Upon Beth's recommendation, I did find a Panera and had a cinnamon crunch bagel (we don't have Land O' Lakes Butter here in Canada but I have since discovered that there are 3 Panera Breads here in Canada, in the area...none close to me but worth the drive!)...

and I tried the Fuji Apple Chicken Salad which was delicious...

I liked the bagel so much I had another one the next day...

Add some cross border shopping, some one-on-one time with the son who lives out of town 3/4 of the year and you have a great way to spend a weekend....even in the cloying heat....

When It's Not the "Real" Thing...

This is "cinnamon raisin spread".  It is also wretched.  If there is cinnamon in this it's done an excellent job of disguising itself.  And it tastes nothing at all like cinnamon toast which is what my mouth and my taste buds were looking forward to.  I was so looking forward to this.  Last night just before I drifted over to sleep I was thinking about breakfast (hey, sometimes at 1:00 a.m. when I've stayed up reading a really enjoyable book -- "Buried Prey" by John Sandford since you asked -- I get a little hungry, but not hungry enough to go down to the kitchen to find something to eat).  As I was thinking about breakfast and the day that was going to begin within a few hours, I remembered that I had bought this spread in the afternoon while picking up a few groceries and was soooooo looking forward to spreading it on my bagel.  Disappointment indeed.

Those two bites taken from this half of a bagel were all I ate.  The container of "cinnamon raisin spread" is in the food waste bucket which will be collected shortly (the half bagel is with in all tied up in a little bag).  I shook my head as I carried it out to the curb wondering what I had been thinking.

I love cinnamon toast and have since I was a little girl.  It was something my mother made and it was such a treat.  We didn't eat it every day.  It might be a snack while watching a favourite television show, or it might be something made the morning following a sleepover.  It was a birthday breakfast or a treat if you were feeling down or disappointed.  I could use a little of that mothering TLC right now -- that bagel was Disappointment with a capital "D".

Always stay with the real thing, the authentic.  There is no substitute for real cinnamon toast or a mother's TLC.

My cinnamon toast (which I made for my children when they were young, and I still make when it calls to me and I have the ingredients) consists of (lots!!!) butter and cinnamon and brown sugar.  Nothing more -- I don't use measuring spoons...I just grab a plate, mix it all together and adjust as needed until I get the consistency, colour and flavour that my taste buds and my heart tell me, "this is the real thing".

What I'm Learning In 30 Good Days...

I don't remember how I found Julie at The Peaceful Peacock, but really that is irrelevant.  It was finding her, or being led to her that matters.  While I was there one day I was reading on her sidebar about "30 Good Days" so I signed up.  So far I've had 26 days of Julie's wisdom, thoughts and as she describes it, "just a little bit of lovely".  Each offering has made me think, not just that day but throughout my days.

Julie's thoughts about gratitude definitely had an impact on me, someone who lives with gratitude every day.  To appreciate the full benefit of this you do realize of course that you'll need to sign up and have 30 days of awesome arrive in your own inbox.  For myself it was thinking about the magnitude and the way we can become overwhelmed by gratitude that settled within me.

We are presented with so many people and places who talk about gratitude and what that is and how we can express it.  We want to soak it up and be sure that we aren't forgetting anything or anyone to the point that we can drown in gratitude and sooner or later it loses it's meaning.  If we aren't feeling grateful about every.single.thing we can begin to feel ungrateful, that we're missing the point, that if we don't acknowledge every.single.thing that happens in a day that made us grateful we are somehow "less".    How then can we get back to truly appreciating and expressing gratitude?

Julie talks about balance, of finding the balance between what we really can be grateful for and how to be able to distinguish those true, authentic moments of gratitude.  And there is that word again.."authentic".  The one that I keep coming back to.

When we are authentic in everything we think and we do, we know it.  We don't have to look for it because it's right there, exactly where you are looking.  And you know because you feel it to the deepest part of who you are.

Why not give "30 Days" an opportunity to shed a little bit of lovely into your life?  What do you have to lose?

Got a Minute?

This video is wonderful....so fast, only a minute and voila, away you go.  I love to spread paint with my hands, my fingers...there is something that is so "grounding" about that.  I feel completely "part" of the art I'm creating.

Hot Summer Days...

I long for this all winter long, these days where the sun beats high in the sky, the sky so blue and the air so warm if not absolutely humid.  A summer breeze that cools things down, and finding a shady spot to sit and just "be".  Air conditioning is fine for awhile but I find myself reaching for a sweater when I've had too much and that really isn't "summer" for me.  It feels too much like it is defeating the purpose.

What do I love to do on a hot, humid, beautiful summer day?  It's ideal for...

wearing gauzy white tops...

drinking lemonade with slices of tart lemon...

sheltering in a shady spot to flip through magazines, drowse in the softness of the sultry breeze and dream...

thinking about easy meals like fresh berries, pasta salads, grilled chicken, french baguette and cheese...

(image photographed from Better Homes and Gardens magazine)

It's a feeling like a bumble bee that has sated itself in nectar and stumbles in a drunken state to find a sweet repose.

What's Inspiring Me...

I'm not a Monarchist.  I'm not tied to the old ways of Britain ruling the once upon a time Dominion of Canada (we are now our own country of Canada and no longer a "dominion").  I am, however, somewhat of a traditionalist and I still maintain a passing interest in the Monarchy.  I myself am only a second generation Canadian.  My parents were first generation born in the early 1930s.  All of my grandparents came to Canada in the early 1900s.  Three were from England, one was from Scotland.  They came here to begin new lives (all of them met their spouses here in Toronto) and I was raised with a very British background.  On the paternal side of my family one side would have been Yorkist and the other Lancastrian.  I suspect that this is where my love of British history is rooted.

 (red fascinator worn for Canada Day Celebrations, July 1st, 2011 - photograph from National Post)

But that isn't what is inspiring me.  What has been inspiring me is the visit to Canada of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.  They didn't have a stop in Toronto as part of their tour and I seriously doubt I would have stood around waiting for hours for a glimpse (I can't think of anyone I would be willing to do that for!).  I found myself following their tour each day in the news and soaking up what they wore, how they behaved, how they were received.  I very much admire the Duchess' style in clothing (her shoes most especially!) and when you look at the photographs you see two young people, beginning their journey of married life and the smiles are genuine and the love is real and it gives me hope that there is a future for the Monarchy with a revitalized and fresh approach to what that means today and for the future.  If anyone can do this I have faith that it will be Prince William and his beautiful wife.

(at the Calgary Stampede, July 2011 - photograph from Telegraph UK)

Summer Mornings...and a Sale....

(I'm reading Anne Easter Smith's "Queen by Right" about Cecily Neville, wife to Richard Plantagenet, the 3rd Duke of York whose sons became King Edward IV and Richard III (the one who may or may not have had Edward's 2 young sons murdered so that he could accede to the throne).


There has been much of this in the mornings of late.  I've changed up my routine a little and it feels good.  I drive my husband to the commuter train every morning and usually just drive home, make my coffee and sit down at the computer.  As the mornings have been so lovely lately I've decided to keep driving the short distance to my latest favourite cafe to have a "very very big" (that's what they call it!) decaf Americano, sit outside at a table under a bright orange umbrella and read for as long as 45 minutes.  Sometimes it's only 20.  Depends on the day.

*

Canada Post is now back at work and yet there is a backlog of mail of about 40 million letters.  With the strike in motion I really didn't do any creating or spend time with my art.  I've hesitated to put orders into the mail though I have gone back to that.  I'm having a summer sale -- a sale to celebrate 200 sales in my Bella Rennie shop and I'm also holding a Christmas in July sale to coincide with that.  Everything is 50% off with free shipping, just remember to type BIG200 in the coupon code box at checkout.

This Is Our Truth...

It's been awhile since I shared any art and although this is not my art it does belong to me.  This art was created by three wonderful, inspiring friends of mine and I want to share these "truths" with others.

In the spring I had told Kathy about "Soul Restoration" which was being offered through "Brave Girls".  I had done the course and thought Kathy would enjoy the experience.  During the time Kathy was doing her "Soul Restoration" she created a group on facebook and invited me to join.  It was there in this group that I met other "soul sistas" who were taking the course and with whom we shared life experiences, joys, sorrows, our reactions to life events and supported one another through open, honest communication. Four of us within the group decided that we would exchange "truth cards" to add a little fun and take the experience a little further.  We agreed that we would make 4 cards for each person and hope to have them mailed by the end of May.  With the recent postal strike here in Canada I only just this week received the last of my cards.  I've chosen one from each set...I love each one but these are the ones from each artist that my hands reach out to the most.   I love each of these equally and they are being shared in the order in which I received them.

I love how each artist used a different method of creating the cards, how the "truths" are not the same and that this is a small piece of my friends' thoughts, inspirations and art.  It always delights me that it is sometimes the "small" things we share that have the biggest impact.

A Summer Read...

Looking for a fun, light hearted summer read?  This one, "Best Staged Plans" by Claire Cook fit that bill for me quite nicely the other day.

Most of the time I seek out books that are on the best seller list, or by authors I have become comfortable and familiar with.  I like to sink my imagination into a good mystery or suspense or delve into the lives of others who might have something inspiring to share.  I feed my brain with information, sometimes to the point of overload.

There are other times when I need to rinse my brain, to get all the heavy words and thoughts, the ponderous messages and the idea for being grateful for every morsel right out of my head and just relax, let my mind float and be entertained.  To just accept a story for what it is and enjoy the characters, the plot and the telling.

Claire Cook is a new to me author, but having read "Best Staged Plans" and being taken along for a bike ride of sorts with laughter and realizing that while life is serious business it need not always be taken seriously, I'm eager to read more of her work.  Don't be fooled into thinking that there isn't inspiration or a message in this story.  There is.  But it is told with the lightness of a summer breeze...refreshing in every way!  A cool slice of mid-life chick lit!

*to read an excerpt click here
  

This Is What It's All About...

This is summer...hot, humid, hazy...a sunny day at the beach...Lake Ontario at it's finest.  This is what I long for all winter.  Yesterday was the blessing I'd been waiting for.

What's Inspiring Me...

If today was it, would you die knowing you did your best?

If tomorrow never came, would you be proud of the last thing you said to each person you love?

If "someday" was only "now", would you do everything you've always put off?

If you knew you had a choice about what kind of life you could be living, would you choose different?

If you knew failure is impossible, what would you do?

If it were true that everyone you meet is you in another body, how would you treat them?

If love was the true currency of the Uni-verse and the more you gave away the more you received, how would you spend it?

If fear were the biggest illusion and the greatest lie of all time, how would you choose to live your life?

If the Uni-verse always supported a life lived towards achieving dreams, how big would you dream?

- Jackson Kiddard


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A woman who embraces the possibilities in life...and danced with elephants....


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And keeping love alive.  For those who knew Char at Ramblins, please go to Beth's blog and see what she has created and offered as a way to lovingly keep Char's memory alive.

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"Ask how you'd live your life differently if you knew you were going to die soon, then ask yourself who those people you admire are and why you admire them, and then ask yourself what was the most fun time in your life. The answers to these questions, when seen, heard, and felt, provide us with an open doorway into our mission, our destiny, our purpose."

- Thom Hartmann

It Made Me Feel....

 

I read this novel last week and I was so deeply touched by the story.  This description is taken from Rachel DeWoskin's site:

Judy Lohden is your above-average sixteen-year-old—sarcastic and vulnerable, talented and uncertain, full of big dreams for a big future. With a singing voice that can shake an auditorium, she should be the star of Darcy, the local high school of the performing arts. So why is a girl this promising hiding out in a seedy motel room on the edge of town?

The fact that the national media is on her trail after a controversy that might bring down the whole school could have something to do with it. And that scandal has something—but not everything—to do with the fact that Judy is three feet nine inches tall.

Being different, wanting to fit in, wanting to stand out, wanting to be accepted.  While this story is about a 16 year old girl, we don't always outgrow those desires. Being protected and learning to stand on our own.  We continue to make mistakes no matter our age and we can either grow from those mistakes or allow them to define us.

I read this not as remembering the 16 year old I once was, but as I am now and how this relates to life, to the people in our lives, to whether we let them in or push them away.  To knowing what we need and if we don't know to taking the time to find out what that is.

I saw this poster on etsy the other day as well and thought it was most fitting to accompany this post.

purchase here