Thursday, March 3, 2016

let's take a little trip

 In 1977, when I was almost 15 years old, 
my parents sold our house in eastern Canada,
filled a U-Haul with our furniture,
and drove the five of us
across Canada to move to Calgary, Alberta.
We had moved before, several times -
but never this far (4,600 km)
and never to such an unknown place.
We left on May 17th
and I decided to keep a journal along the way.
I have 10 pages of handwritten notes,
detailing everything from the weather
to the cost of food and gas in each province.
Why a 14 year old girl
would be interested in the price of gas
is a mystery to me,
but i'm guessing I was doing it for dad.
I know one thing.
I LOVED writing, even then.
And i especially loved handwriting.
I still do.
When I found these notes the other day,
i typed them all up, printed the pages
and gave them to my dad, 
for him to read.


When I called him later 
to ask if he had read it,
he replied:
I read it 3 times.
He loved reading it
and remembered the trip in his own way.
We had taken something like
6 days to drive there.
He said he had forgotten
so many things about that trip
but that my words had reminded him. :)
That's the joy of stories and words, isn't it?
Whether it was created from imagination
or memory,
it's such a fabulous way
to transport us back to a specific time.
To a specific place.
To a specific feeling,
good or bad.
Sometimes, is allows us to see
how much we've changed.
How much we've grown.
I've kept so many things from my past,
i'm afraid if there ever was a fire in here
the whole place would go up in smoke in minutes
because of all the damn paper in here. ;)
I keep things like this.
Yes, i do.
Because you never know
when i'll feel like being hypnotized
by pink & blue & orange rectangles
with a tiny ladder in the center. ;)
I don't keep EVERYTHING though.
I'm not a hoarder.
I only keep the art stuff.
Which is basically everything. 
(never mind). ;)
I got a bit of art done this week,
but more reading & watching movies than art.

 Still, a few sketches that were fun to do.
I also spent some quality time with friends,
which is always worth so much to me.
Another little note i found, 
from when i was doing some soul searching
a few years ago.
These were some of the things
I wanted to do in the coming years.
I've done or I AM doing most of them,
except attend Burning Man -
which is something i'd still like to do
at some point in my life. ;)
When I found this,
I was amazed at how many of these things
became reality for me.
I bought a kayak just last year
and used it regularly in the summer.
I've recently started yoga 
and i love it.
It does the body & mind so much good...
I do it at home, 
in the comfort of my living room,
because i'm not a gym kinda gal,
and there's a slim chance
exercise is gonna happen for me
if it means "going out" in the dead of winter.
I go for occasional walks outside
when the weather permits as well.
I still need to work on the "go on more excursions" 
and the "become mindful of what i eat" one too.
I'm not sure i'm too mindful
when i'm stuffing my face with a bag of chips. ;)
Thanks for being here, folks.
ENJOY the weekend!
xox

14 comments:

  1. Great thoughts. It always nice to reflect on our past. What a nice gift for your dad. Happy PPF!

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  2. great seeing the art along with your stories-so important to remember even if what we may have written about the time may be somewhat different than what we remember. Happy PPF!

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  3. the first thing I noticed was how regular and neat your handwriting was :-) What a nice thought to print this out for your father, it must have given him so much pleasure.

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  4. Your Dad must have loved this! I can only imagine the memories and smiles! Have a fun weekend, k

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  5. Loved reading your musings over memories and "to do" list. Love the ball point drawing.

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  6. First thing that struck me was, did we have Celsius in the seventies? Oh yes we did as of 40 years ago we did... haha and I still haven't completely changed over...haha...just in the weather..the rest is still imperial especially baking! That is terrible...now I'm beating myself up...not a number girl..
    Wonderful that your dad got such a charge out of reading all that. It's always fun to discover past writings!! Wonderful artwork...love the dishes in the sink...classic!!

    Hugs Giggles

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  7. your dirty dishes sketch made me gasp at how lovely it was... fabulous post and I kind of love that you keep so much... i have a tendency to binge clean things out and then regret is sometimes, but lately i have been attempting to declutter mindfully... well that is my excuse for going slow lol...

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  8. That is amazing and so wonderful to send the copies to your dad. He will cherish them.

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  9. Great to catch up here with your stories and art, I to do yoga at home and have done for a couple of years now, it's so great with youtube and so good to be at home, I do yoga with adriene, she has loads of excellent yoga videos if you're interested.
    Best wishes, have a great week
    hugs
    Kat

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  10. I also wanted to add how I can relate to finding old letters or journal pieces, when my gran died last year I got a big folder filled with letters I wrote to her throughout my life, it's a huge folder, so I have lots to go through at some point, I've only read a few and it's great, they really do remind you of things forgotten and bring you close to past moments, it's wonderful to have happy memories!

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  11. I love hearing about your memories. And as a 14-year old--you had BEAUTIFUL handwriting! Your painting is my fav. So beautifully simple--soft and thoughtful. Happy PPF!

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  12. Few are able to be thougthful and funny in the same post, yet both flow effortlessly from your pen (and out of yr brush!) How fun that you kept that journal... and the hypnotizing slip:-) LOVE your blue man. And never have dirty dishes looked more appealing - wowers!

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  13. It's always great to visit you here Pauline. Your handwriting is what my mum would've referred to as 'pearls on a string'; it's beautiful. Love your memoirs and your Dad's portrait. I'm MOST excited about your yoga, though. Yippee, I feel so happy when another person discovers the fluid joy of Yoga-- to listen to our bodies and in time, hopefully, to be able to listen to our inner selves, at our own pace, in our space. Like you, I'm not a gym gal. Last thing- your dirty dishes look like they need a solo exhibition man...too good not to be shared. hugs to you...have a wonderful day. xx

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