Thought for The Day - W-O-R-K

The Beginning Of... 18 x 24 Pastels

Not your classic four letter word and I guess it goes to a fallen nature to think work is a necessary evil. It's a necessary benefit and blessing! But I'm not talking about the type of work where your hands, feet, mouth and mind move without regards to your soul. No, I'm referring to work that springs from caring and compassion. I've watched my wife for years, as she prepares lessons or as she does these days, reading material and researching strategies to guide children as they grow. I know artists, writers and health care professionals who aren't pretending they love what they're doing, they are living the life as if they were a child at play.

You know, even children work; when a child is having fun, usually they aren't doing it sitting still. They are active, their hands and feet and mind and body playing a game or pretending they are creating an imaginary world. Their mind and soul prepare them to live a life full of joy. But it's the adult world with a series of choices that bend them into bitter adults, dreading the majority of any given day. It's our droning on and on about "getting ready to face the real world" and "get a job that pays good money," as if that is all we live for.

Could we have a "do-over?" Could we erase the slate and try this again? I for one, would love to write about fantasies and stories with happy endings. I would rather spend my time coloring the world we live in and playing as if nothing mattered. But...

It's a matter of choice: curse or blessing. It's a matter of perspective.

Thought for The Day - Disillusionment and Cocoons

Fall for Francene (in progress) - 12 x 18 water color and pastel

Fall, then Winter. In the Midwest, in Chicago I have long felt like this is a period where I could curl up in a ball and disappear. Oh, I'll get out, go to work and church, run errands and work around the yard, preparing for the eventual Spring, but mentally, feels like I'm shriveling up like a leaf. Not so much depression, but as the Brazilians call it Saudade (pronounced Sa-da-gee) or "happy sadness." There is a joy in this season of bowls of homemade chili and football watched from the comfort of my kitchen television (13 inch older than my children!). When the snow fall gets to "shovel depth" - about three inches - yeah, I will dread getting out clearing my driveway and walk, my parents and the church, but it's physical labor and "in moderation," it's enjoyable. Trouble is, you can't control the weather so I might get more physical labor than I want!

There are moments, from day to day, when I could easily imagine myself in warmer climates. I'm no spring chicken and the work of getting up leaves and shoveling snow wears on you. But as I learned the other day, cutting limbs from the "junk trees" growing from my neighbors yard, take your time; the work will be completed, just not as quickly as you like. Yeah, age instructs, you don't have much time, but use it wisely.