What I SHOULD do is my GST form.
What I SHOULD do is my lesson plan.
What I SHOULD do is write today.
But I DON’T.
I WON’T.
I CAN’T.
“Don’t SHOULD yourself,” said a buddy of mine from long ago. I am glad I remembered that today.
So what do you think I did instead?
Well, I roasted some squash to share with dear friends who have bestowed upon me a heap of free produce. They will drop by on Monday. We will laugh, eat and laugh some more.
I listened to some beautiful music and tucked into a very old chair of my parents and gazed at their youthful images I have placed strategically against an opposite wall so that they feel close to me. Music filled my house when I was little. No wonder I loved to sing.
I rearranged the furniture so that when my grown children come home this weekend we can feast looking out at that big blue prairie sky and see my annual tacky or whimsical (you decide...hahaha) scarecrows. They remind me to be thankful.
I called an old buddy whom I haven’t heard from since May and she reaffirmed me in every breath. Us artists need it daily sometimes.
I put up more of my sister’s artwork, Caryl Skauge, and drifted into her meditative images that exuded healing for me. They have pulled me into a new project, I am sure of that.
I put my 91 year old friend Eula McGiven (intelligent, forthright, compassionate) into my consciousness. She passed just a few days ago. I remember her advice to me. “Go! Do it! Don’t wait!” Her eyes were bright this summer. I’m so glad we dropped by to visit her. She spent her time learning new chess moves so she could beat her grandson and was planning the next travel adventure. What a template!
I reflected on James Short Memorial School staff and their administration team Cheryl Zelmer and Jon Patry. They soaked up my ideas with full body participation in a PD as we transformed the gymnasium into a flowing movement study of Chief Dan George’s poem “My Heart Soars”. The Treaty Seven acknowledgement will never look the same after my day with them. There were beautiful portraits of our land’s power and sensitivity to the words. Hope lies in the ones who dare to connect.
In that same school I shook hands with an Elder a few weeks back. He has been a frequent visitor. There have been smudges and sharing and growth in those authentic experiences. Hope lies in the ones who dare to connect.
Voluntarily reading with their students has morphed into a weekly sacred rhythm that fulfills me. Little eyes have found the wonder as we learn together.
I will walk out into my valley soon and take in the view. Well it’s not MY valley but it feels like mine when it is just me and the prairie grasses.
It’s a silent retreat from the buzz of “should dos”.
More people will come to mind but I will rest in the knowing that thankfulness is a full time action and will not reprimand myself if their names do not get to paper....no need....I will thank them in some way.
THAT is a MUST DO!
I am blessed...
I have a home...heat....food....family....dear friends....opportunity......space to contemplate.....the ability to create.....I am so rich.....
The sun has burst forth and the remaining leaves are glowing as I look up from my computer.
It is time to walk and breathe deeply.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!