I’ve been thinking about the fact that my cards all seem to have a “story” attached to them since last week when I had an appointment with Charles Spencer from the SFSBDC (San Francisco Small Business Development Council). As he was reviewing my website, he clicked on a card, looked at me and raised his eyebrows asking “for Molly?”. I replied, “all my cards have a story about them….Molly is a friend of mine”, and left it at that. A few days later I was out slogging (my slow jog) and thought of that conversation. Then I got the idea that I could write in my blog the “stories” behind my cards. I got very excited about the prospect of writing vignettes about each card providing explanation behind the background of the card or the name I had attached to it.
On Sunday evening Mark and I stepped out to the Razz Room to listen to Pete Escovedo and his band of Latin Jazz performers (great music!). I love to capture the spirit of jazz musicians in my journal. So journal open and sketching begun when Pete Escovedo begins to introduce a song that they were going to play…I realize he’s telling the “story” of the song “Pete Kelly’s Blues”…it’s that storytelling that draws you in and makes you feel like a participant in the live event. You “connect” with the story and enjoy the piece more or so it seems (though you’d enjoy the music anyhow because it is so wonderful!). I thought again about my idea to get my own “stories” about my respective “pieces” out on my blog. That way people can “connect” even more to the image. The music moved me so much at one point that I wrote in my journal “There is such Joy in Creation of the Music!!…Expressions of Love”. The feelings of love and joy for the music was palpable as everyone moved and grooved to sounds of the drums, horns, percussions and piano all playing in harmony. You couldn’t help but feel good being in the energy of it all!
So back to “for Molly”…and the story behind that card. You can see what that card looks like if you go to my website: www.wordsandwatercolors.com. Go to the Shop tab then click on Inspirational in the left hand menu. You’ll see Molly’s card at the top right hand side of the page. I named it for Molly because she is a friend of mine from many years ago. We met when our daughters were days old (they are now 20) as we shared a nanny in their early years. The words on this card came from “words” that I had paired with a different image in my first go round of “words & watercolors” in 1994. Molly was part of my life when I introduced my first line of cards and remains part of my life today. The idea of “living simply…taking the time to BE…” was something to aspire to as we both were in the corporate world busy from morning to night with our careers, children and hectic lives. When I was in the process of naming and numbering these cards this Spring, I read the words to this and thought of Molly. Nearly 20 years later and we are still trying to learn how to take time for ourselves and learn to “breathe deeply…sit quietly…absorb the beauty of living in the moment”. I had lunch with Molly when I was up in Seattle in August. We both agreed we are still on our respective paths in learning to be IN the moment!
By the way, I’ll be meeting with Charles Spencer weekly at the SFSBDC for 5 or 6 weeks, as he explained to me, and then he’ll shoot me over to meet with another specialist in marketing. As we are meeting, we’ll be talking, planning and working on a worksheet. At the end of the time, I’ll have created my Business Plan for Words and Watercolors! WooHOO!!!
Stay tuned for more stories…and by the way, thought I’d take pics of my journal pages from Sunday night…enJOY!!!