Saturday, March 8, 2014

PLAYTITUDE #7: CREATING THINGS WITH BEAUTY AND PURPOSE CAN BRING OUT THE PLAYFUL (AND THE GRATEFUL)



There is excitement buzzing at my house.  In two months, on May 3, my daughter, Rachel, is getting married.  Happiness is spilling over as we gear up for the festivities.  I have my ‘to do’ list and some of it is creative and fun—and it helps out for the wedding planning—so all the better. 

Rachel asked me and my son, Ben, to put together a slide show for the rehearsal dinner.  A number of people have been sending us photos and Ben and I have been discussing music to accompany the slides.  He is a music whiz, so I will defer to him in that department.  I have enjoyed looking over old photos and revisiting memories as I create the sequence to display the photos.  l am enjoying thinking about how I can creatively show both Rachel’s and her finance, Sam’s life as young children and teens and how they have blended their life as they are moving toward marriage…creating a montage through photos and song.  Pouring over the photos has triggered memories that only enhance the joy of this occasion.  Pure fun and I get to play with my son to help create it. 

I am also helping to make the table markers.  We decided it would be fun to have tables be labeled by addresses and places in their lives (both separate and together).  So we are creating table tops that represent our Cincinnati home where Rachel arrived as a newborn, freshly home from the hospital, as well as other place markers on her path toward this commitment.  Both will have their singular markers and then there will be their together markers.  People coming into the reception will find their address at the table that they are sitting.   

Participating in these activities has created fun as we put together something of beauty and purpose.  Are there ways that you create in this way?

I have several friends that are artists and create with their hands in different ways.  One a potter, another a weaver, and another a seamstress.  They take raw material and create something of both beauty and use.  For a recent birthday I was the recipient of gifts from these wonderful women.  My potter friend gave me a beautiful mug from which I now drink my morning tea.  My weaver friend gave me a lilac scarf which adds color to my life.  My seamstress friend gave me a purse, sewn with stiches of love and now carried by me, a holder for the practical parts of my life.  What a gift to be able to extend to someone else the fruits of the work that comes from hands.     

It is fun to create things that are beautiful.  Creating beauty brings out the playful in me.  And when they are purposeful—well, in a too busy life—all the better.    

PLAY-TITUDE #7:  CREATING THINGS WITH BEAUTY AND PURPOSE CAN BRING OUT THE PLAYFUL (AND THE GRATEFUL)

 

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for dedicating space and time for writers and teachers of writing to come together to share ideas, practice and life experience.

10 comments:

  1. Congrats on the upcoming wedding. I like to bead and write and play with my comers.

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  2. You make wedding planning seem like a joy. So often I hear about the parts that are not joyful. This was refreshing. The art of giving is so important. It seems like you do that and are the recipient of the gifts as well. That must make your life very full:)

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  3. You must post some pictures in May, of some of those tables. That sounds like so much fun. You may want to take the pictures as they are completed and include those in both their wedding album, of course, and maybe a large display on the wall at the wedding, so everyone can see all the tables in one place - in case they don't make it around to all of them to see them in person. They sound like they will be wonderful!

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  4. The rehearsal dinner sounds fun! Would love to see your Cincinnati table. My son was born in Dayton while we lived in Miamisburg. It's still one of our favorite quick trips, especially the aquarium, Don Pablos and Kenwood Mall.

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  5. You are definitely having fun creating! This morning a friend gave me a cutting board that her father had made. It is beautiful. For my birthday, I received handmade scarf and socks! I treasure them all.

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  6. Congratulations, Rachel! What fun to be putting something like this together - they will always cherish it.

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  7. Lovely post! So agree about creating beauty - so many ways to do it. How exciting to be planning a wedding. The last one I did was for my own - 12 years ago. Such fun.

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  8. Oh. My. Goodness. I have a daughter named Rachel. I have a son named Ben. He is music whiz! What joy to find commonalities among a group of relative strangers! Congratulations to Rachel and to you...for writing such a refreshing piece! I am a scrapbooker...who hasn't scrapped in a long time. My real Rachel is almost 19, but my scrapbook Rachel is only 8! I am a quilter, who hasn't quilted in a long time. But my bed IS covered in flannel and fleece that I stitched together with my own two hands, and the help of some good friends. You inspire me to get back at it...at playing! Long happy sigh....thank you !
    Keep slicing!
    Trish

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    1. Trish, I love the name of your blog. And it always amazes me the connections that are made within this writing community. Glad this blog inspired your creativity! Deborah

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  9. Oh what fun, wedding planning can be fun! Hoping you will post pics of your tables. I'm a long way off from that with my own children. I hope I can make it as joyful as you are when my time comes.

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