Q. You parent some really strong and different personalities, what is one thing you’ve learned about the process that you could share?
A. Interesting question to answer given I’m at a time in my parenting in which I am coming to question myself more deeply than ever before. Essentially I have spent my entire life trying not to be what I didn’t love about my own parents’ parenting. So imagine how it must feel almost 18 years out when I start to hear the thoughts and feelings I had as a child but didn’t dare say out loud echoed back to me in the words and perspective of my pre-teen daughter. Have I failed? I don’t know. Was I wrong? I don’t know. Will the children of parents working so hard to be the antithesis of their parents end up being just like their grandparents? Sometimes I wonder.
A. Interesting question to answer given I’m at a time in my parenting in which I am coming to question myself more deeply than ever before. Essentially I have spent my entire life trying not to be what I didn’t love about my own parents’ parenting. So imagine how it must feel almost 18 years out when I start to hear the thoughts and feelings I had as a child but didn’t dare say out loud echoed back to me in the words and perspective of my pre-teen daughter. Have I failed? I don’t know. Was I wrong? I don’t know. Will the children of parents working so hard to be the antithesis of their parents end up being just like their grandparents? Sometimes I wonder.
Here is what I do know. There is no manual, no handbook, nothing better than inspiration. Sometimes there’s just a point when you have to turn it all over to God and get out of the way and let those kids become who they are supposed to b–loving them the whole way through. I can say this because it’s hard for me to swallow my pride and eliminate the chatter around me long enough to listen for that inspiration. I have to work at it. But when I do, it works and good things happen.
Q. Who is your favorite artist and why?
A. That is a tough one. Art is something that both inspires and intimidates me. I’m not an expert but I love the work of Auguste Rodin. Mostly because while I was in college I read a biography about him (looking back it was probably more like historical fiction) that moved me to tears. So then of course his sculptures moved me to tears.
A. That is a tough one. Art is something that both inspires and intimidates me. I’m not an expert but I love the work of Auguste Rodin. Mostly because while I was in college I read a biography about him (looking back it was probably more like historical fiction) that moved me to tears. So then of course his sculptures moved me to tears.
Much later I tried to locate the book because I wanted to feel it all over again, but I was unsuccessful. I wonder if art is like that too. It speaks to you in a certain way at a certain time in your life and it might never move you in the same way ever again. But then again, maybe it will.
Q. You’re a quilter. How did you get started and what is it about quilting that you really love?
A. My friend and I took a quilt class through community ed after my third child was born. I felt the need to accomplish something–anything. What I love about it is when you’re a mother almost everything you do gets undone in mere minutes. Except quilts. Quilting is a way to create, express myself and accomplish something that won’t get undone in a day.
A. My friend and I took a quilt class through community ed after my third child was born. I felt the need to accomplish something–anything. What I love about it is when you’re a mother almost everything you do gets undone in mere minutes. Except quilts. Quilting is a way to create, express myself and accomplish something that won’t get undone in a day.
Q. Delta Airlines calls you and says you’ve got four free open-ended tickets to anywhere. Where are you going, who is going with you, and what will you be up to?
A. Do you remember when I fell in love with Finland? I will leave for Helsinki in April. I think I’ll take my whole family. (Which means I will have to pay for two extra tickets.) I will live there for six months using public transportation, riding an old bike with a basket on the front and walking in a good pair of shoes. I’ll buy fresh food each day at market and cook dinner every night. I will try to visit at least a thousand of the 80,000 lakes. I will shop at Marimekko and Iitalla. And I will have pretty blue bottles and bright geraniums in my windows. Finland is just a hop, skip and a jump away from all the other European countries I want to visit, so I might never come back.
A. Do you remember when I fell in love with Finland? I will leave for Helsinki in April. I think I’ll take my whole family. (Which means I will have to pay for two extra tickets.) I will live there for six months using public transportation, riding an old bike with a basket on the front and walking in a good pair of shoes. I’ll buy fresh food each day at market and cook dinner every night. I will try to visit at least a thousand of the 80,000 lakes. I will shop at Marimekko and Iitalla. And I will have pretty blue bottles and bright geraniums in my windows. Finland is just a hop, skip and a jump away from all the other European countries I want to visit, so I might never come back.
I’ll send you a postcard.
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