Oh High School

Describe something you learned in high school.

The one thing I learned a few times in high school was that I could do more than I thought I could.

In eleventh grade I was misdiagnosed with hepatitis. I spent most of the school year in isolation before they put me and my mystery illness into the hospital to run more tests. Turned out, I had rheumatic fever. One round of penicillin worked a medical miracle. My liver was fine, but my heart valve was damaged, it was actually how they figured it out.

Needless to say, I missed a LOT of school. No one thought to send work home, so I was behind. Quite behind.

The next year I decided I wanted to go away to college. It was a late decision for a handful of reasons, but I somehow latched onto the plan and what followed surprised everyone. My parents never fully recovered from my early school years. Every year they had to have the no-you-do-not-have-our-permission-to-hold-her-back conversation, no she will not be in the same class as her younger brother. Send her on, who cares if she can’t read…no thank you to that stigma and/or embarrassment. So I existed as the not smart one, who later became the still not smart one who gets weirdly good grades. College was never discussed.

Then one day I learned I had this iron clad determination. I was going. My mind was made up. I jumped through every hoop, worked around the clock, tested and retested, signed up and shocked everyone by getting a decent score on my ACT. I applied, I even won scholarship money. I got in, got a student visa and went out of country to college. No one in my family ever did that before. It was a little crazy.

Who was that girl? At seventeen I made up my mind and defied a lot of odds. Later, through the years, I was always glad to remember that I did that. I had some other moments when I pulled off the seemingly impossible. Even today, it’s good to remember what a ‘stubborn will’ I have, and what can be made to happen because of it.

One positive change

Describe one positive change you have made in your life.

The positive change I made kind of snuck up on me. I tried out yoga on a promotional challenge. You just had to attend yoga thirty times in thirty days and you would get a cute tank top and a discount on a future monthly membership. I’m a sucker for a free shirt, also I was curious.

Up until then, I didn’t think much of yoga. I did ‘real’ exercise. I didn’t have time for stretching. It seemed a little silly to me and besides, there was a weird religious thing I didn’t know about. People always assumed I was a yoga person which annoyed me. I was an Artist, not a yoga person. I had had enough of religious preconceptions and judgement in my life, so I just steered right past yoga until that one random day. We were there for juice. They had a great juice bar on top of the yoga. G had found it. When I heard about the deal, it sounded too good to pass up. I love a challenge and I wanted the shirt, so I signed

Thirty days and thirty dollars later. I had a new group of friends, new yoga pants, and a new obsession. (also a cute new tank top)

I would have expected it to have run its course by now, but I never looked back. Two months in I quit the gym and have been doing yoga ever since.

It’s not religious. It can be great exercise and it has changed how I approach my life. I deal with stress differently. I gained some body awareness that I never had, I have better balance and flexibility and muscle strength . There’s also the conscious breathing thing. Yoga has been a very positive change for me.

With People

What’s the most fun way to exercise?

With people. Exercise can be grueling and often not really fun. I know this because I used to run long distances. I trained for my first marathon alone. At the time I didn’t know anyone who would want to do such a thing. I later moved to CA and met many others.

On my longest training days, I would get my brother to ride his bike for ten or fifteen of the twenty or so miles. We would joke around and laugh. He saved me! I don’t know where I got the motivation. Running alone for hours, oh man.

I had a friend who I did Thaibo with. We did it almost everyday at home while our boys played. Good play date for all of us!

Letter, I had friends to run with. Friends to go to the gym with. What a difference! Now I have walking friends and yoga friends. After a fast walk and a good chat and a bunch of laughs, I feel great! How could I not? Other people (preferably funny ones) make exercise fun.

As we get ready to head back to the East coast, I will miss my friends so very much. I forget this is how we bonded. I’ll be missing our daily beach walks and especially all the laughing…

Signing

The egret commission is finished and only needs signing… Why this always trips me up, I don’t know. I have signed paintings and murals and drawings and books. You name it, whatever art I’ve made, I’ve signed it. It should be easy. Like dotting an i

Yet here I am, pen in hand, stalling. Often I’ve had to go back to a collectors house and sign because I forgot or couldn’t decide where and then forgot. It’s a whole thing. I like the way that Van Gough signed his paintings. Big bold, sometimes in red, sometimes orange, Vincent, not Van Gogh, always with bravado. He didn’t care, it seemed, whether he would sell the painting or not when he signed. He just wrote confidently, underlined, as if he somehow knew that one day his signature would be worth something.

I would like to muster this kind of energy regarding my signature going forward. I think signing with a bit of pride and maybe even joy, and some definite bravado, might, be just the ticket.

Okay then, channeling Vincent…

Book Love

What book could you read over and over again?

I can think of several books I’ve read over and over. I tend to get attached to books and sometimes obsessed. Lately, I’m reading Iain Gilchrust’s new book, ‘The Matter of Things’ which I might read over and over because its so interesting that I don’t want to miss anything. I’ve always been curious about brain science and especially about how each hemisphere has such a different roles.

One of my favorite re-readable book is called ‘Let’s Pretend This Never Happened‘ by Jenny Lawson. Her wry sense of humor cracks me up every time.

And then there are my classics favs which I get something different from each time I revisit. Jane Eyr, Anna Karenena, Grapes of wrath to name a very few…

And finally the books I’ve read and reread to my kids and grandkids. Picture books like Miss Ruphiius, Stella Luna, Thundercakes and Strega Nona, and chapter books like Narnia, Little House, and the Indian in the Cupboard. (I’ve read these entire series out loud at least three times each) Narnia, if you read all the books, isn’t relgious, but it does have some great stories about magic and humanness and imagination. My kids loved it.

Character

If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?

I’ll go ahead and date myself and say Laura Croft, Tomb Raider. She was the coolest badass epitome of confidence ever in that movie. Or maybe Addicus from To Kill a Mockingbird. When I was young I wanted to be Heidi or Sarah from the Little Princess, or the girl in the Secrat Garden. I used to identify with every character in every book I read. My friend pointed that out once. She said I over-identified.

Today I had a little trouble answering this prompt because even though it sounds lovely to run around a mountain drinking goat milk and making friends with goat herders (Heidi), or visiting India (Sarah) or having the highest caliber of character (Addicus), or whatever, I guess I’m trying to just be me, better. Thats the boring answer. I have always dearly loved the exotic and having out-of-the-ordinary experiences, but maybe, for right now, I’m craving something else. I imagine that Laura, played by beautiful Angelina, living in a mansion practicing her acrobatics, shooting her bow and arrows, and being so cool, might be a bit tiresome. At least for me right now. I’m ready to rest from a lot of very fun, out of the ordinary experiences, at least for now.

How it’s going

So far so good. I’d say pretty well actually. The kids got the butterfly-breathing down pretty quick. (That was a good experiment. A whole group of first graders can learn to breathe consciously) They had good questions and good answers. I forgot how much this age loves art.

When I used to teach, it was a weekly event for each class at every grade level, even PreK. They loved it. All the teachers loved it. When I was there, I kept hearing how they dearly miss art taught by a ‘real’ artist. That was a rare and wonderful program. We had a real musician teaching music as well.

This experience got me thinking about art education. When I finished teaching, things sounded like they were going back to the way they were, which seemed fine, but art budgets were cut so it became one more thing for regular teachers to do.

I’m glad for the opportunities both then and now. I forgot how much fun making up art projects was. Also fun that they loved my book.

A Class of their own

What animals make the best/worst pets?

We were just the other day, saying how snakes make boring pets, but it probably depends on what you are looking for. They can be decorative. They might even make you more interesting to others. They, of course, won’t greet you affectionately or snuggle on the couch. Probably won’t learn any tricks or be obedient. I started thinking about other reptile or aquatic pets.

My granddaughter just had her pet goldfish die. That was a whole thing. She was completely devastated even though it didn’t live long enough for me to even meet it. I saw a few pics and well, goldfish…yet she had already fallen in love.

Then, I since I am in school classrooms this week, I thought about class pets. Years ago first grade had baby chicks hatch out of incubated eggs. Second grade always ordered butterfly eggs in special containers so the kids could see caterpillars make their chrysalis and then turn into butterflies. When the school year was ending, homes needed to be found for the growing baby chicks. Luckily butterflies were easy. They were just let go. Butterflies make great class pets.

Have you seen the movie Leo? It’s about two class pets who have some unusual hidden talents. Adam Sandler and Bill Burr are the voices of Leo the lizard and his friend Squirtle the turtle. Together they put a comic spin on coming-of-age in the elementary school grades. (kindergartners are hilarious, 5th graders have some issues they are grappling with as they head toward middle school). It’s a fun, warm, entertaining story about two unpredictably great pets.

You never know, butterflies and lizards and even maybe snakes might be the best pets. Less work, less hair. Okay, not nearly as entertaining or adorable as our comdeic dogs and cats, but to each its own.

We actually had a pet snake when I was growing up. It wouldn’t eat so we let it go. It was a small California King and we were living in California at the time. So nothing like letting a python go in Florida. I don’t think, anyway, but it was the seventies…

Is it a job?

26 of these. Free

What job would you do for free?

Art. Staging. Design. When I started and even well into my career, I’ve found myself working for free. it’s a weird skill set. Art. Design. Part of it comes so naturally while the other part is purely literally years of practice. I might be like the guy who shows up at the campfire with a guitar. Plus I can’t help myself, it’s still, after all these years, fun.

When I get paid. When someone buys or commissions a painting or I get a fee from a realtor or real estate company, It still feels like Christmas. For that, I consider myself extremely fortunate. I love what I do. I love the variety. I love the challenge. I love when things turn out cool. I once watched a show about a wildlife photographer. He said when he picks up his pictures from the printer he always can’t wait to see them. He looks at them all the way home. He said if he ever lost that excitement he would know he was done. I feel that it’s a privilege to show up and really love doing what you do.

Today I will be reading my Beatrix book to a class of first graders. They are my very first group reading. I’m of course nervous, but at the same time super excited. I will be following Spring break and the eclipse which might be like following Taylor Swift and puppies, but it’s first grade, anything can happen.

I’ll let you know how it went…