12 Years Come and Gone...

Well, 12 years ago today, I married my Best Friend!  Of course since it took him a while to realize that I was "the one" we dated for 8 years. So actually I am thinking I should get credit for 20 years!  Looking back, I wonder where those years went. I seems like yesterday, I saw this tall, dark, handsome man, and said, "That is the man I am going to marry". No kidding, the first time I saw him from across the room, that was it.

Waiting until 33 to get married for the first time, and marrying some 15 years older, who also was getting married for the first time, certainly had it's challenges at times!   I think we were both a little set in our way. Just a little... But looking back, I wouldn't change a thing.

I married the strong silent type, which I now realize is a good thing, since I am NOT so silent most of the time.  He is a wonderful father to our 3 furry children. He understands when I have to pick up every stray I see, and muddy or not, put them in his classic car and take them home. He has stood by me though life changing surgeries.   He has provided me a place where I feel comfortable and safe.  He has been my Best Friend.

At times I feel bad, that we didn't "grow up" together.  We didn't do the first house, first baby, first career, and all the other firsts that people have when they marry young.  But I stop feeling bad, when I realize that even though we didn't grow up together,  we will still get to grow old together.  And what could be better than that?

                                               Happy Anniversary, to my Best Friend! 

For the Love of Mermaids

I have always had a love for mermaids. And  that love has inspired me to create my new pieces.

There is just something about them, that makes me feel happy and at peace. That love was solidified after I read the Mermaid Story by Robert Fulghum, in the book Everything I needed to know about life I learned in kindergarten. The condensed version goes like this:

One rainy Sunday afternoon I found myself in charge of 70 or so school age children.  We were in a gymnasium, and I knew that if I didn't come up with an idea before long - pure chaos would ensue.  At that very moment I remembered a game - an old roll playing game called Wizards, Giants and Goblins.  So I got my charges to calm down (no easy feat, thank you very much), and I explained the rules of the game:

     "Now," I proclaimed, "if you wish to be a Giant, stand at the front of the room.  If you wish to be a Wizard, stand in the middle.  And those who wish to be Goblins stand toward the back.  All right,  let the play begin."  I allowed the children several minutes to confer in huddled masses until the action resumed.

     As I was standing there I felt I tug on my coat.  When I looked down, there was a little girl with blue, questioning eyes.       

    

    

     "Scuse me, but where do the mermaids stand?"

     "Mermaids? Mermaids?" I sputtered.  "There are no mermaids."

     "Oh, yes there are.  For you see, I'm a mermaid, and I wish to know where to stand."

     Now here was a little girl who knew exactly what she was - a mermaid, pure and simple and she wanted to know where to stand.  And, she wouldn't be satisfied standing on the sidelines watching the others play.  She had her place, and she wanted to know where to stand.

     But, where do the mermaids stand? - all those children we try to mold and form to fit into our boxes.

     Sometimes, I have moments of inspiration.  I looked down at that child, and I held her hand -"Why the mermaid shall stand next to The King of the Sea." (Yeah, King of the Fools would be more likely.)

     So, we stood together - the mermaid and the King of the Sea - as the Wizards, Giants and Goblins roiled by in grand procession.  It isn't true, by the way, what they say about mermaids not existing.  I know they do for I've held one's hand.  

 That story, is the story of me. Even as a little girl, I refused to "fit" in. "I was who I was". And now, many years later, I still "am who I am".  The only difference, is I no longer need to have someone hold my hand so I can feel secure in that.  I am a Mermaid that can stand tall all by herself, while the Wizards, Giants and Goblins pass on by....