Hello everyone,
I've been busy gardening for many people ... and sometimes for myself and family. And struggling to find time to ... time to do something that I haven't even been sure of what I wanted it to be.
And then I read Stephanie Pearl McPhee's Yarn Harlot blog post for today. It's her birthday, and altho' she doesn't usually work on her birthday, today she's been working - teaching workshops to creative people who gathered to share ideas and be inspired - and discovered that this work day is really a good birthday because she has been doing things she loves. As she said:
"Yeah, I'm going to work a 12 hour day on my birthday ... but ... I'm so lucky that this is my work. I'll be surrounded by people who have set aside a whole weekend to learn to make things, and celebrate being someone who makes things, and the whole day we'll talk about knitting, and how it works and every person here, every one of them, thinks that's not stupid."
The parts I really like in that quotation are "celebrate being someone who makes things" and "every person here ... thinks that's not stupid"
The celebration of herself is something beyond the "do what you love" idea from the '90s ... and I think it takes it several big steps forward.
It involves loving the act - the art/craft of knitting in Stephanie's case - and it involves a recognition and celebration of her good self. And the shared joy in the activity bolsters the community.
I'm just thinking quietly to myself that I am a gardener. I make gardens. I am able to help other people make gardens. That's good. And I like it. And I like myself for that.
Well, isn't that something!
Happy Birthday Stephanie! Thanks for working on your birthday and touching me, as well as all the people who are in your workshop.
Best regards to all of you!
Wise Woman
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