+ Her Barefoot Heart

Month: July 2012 (Page 1 of 4)

31

She draws:

3 4 31Jul2012 31

I stitch:

31

39 years ago today
I married Nancy’s brother, Andy.
(which just goes to prove
that I’m much smarter than I look).

Nancy was 14 years old then.
Isn’t she adorable?

NancyOn31Jul1973

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.

What 39 Years of Togetherness Looks Like

Out1

Our togetherness is the same.
Our togetherness is different.

We’ve done things that were unbelievably fun. We’ve done things that were unbelievably sad . . . and we’ve held hands through it all.

We’ve done things together, we’ve done things solo, and we make it a point to never run off and outgrown one another.

See how he swooped me off my feet and carried me out of the church? That’s because I’d been hit by a car while crossing the street about six weeks before the wedding. The cast came off less than a week before we said “I will. I surely will,” and I was still on crutches. I didn’t know he was going to do that, but I’m sure glad he did cause if he hadn’t, we’d still be making our way out.

He still crunches ice (something that drives me up the wall), but I just put a finger in the ear closest to him and wonder to myself how one little ole bitty piece of ice can possibly pack that much crunch time. And what do I do that drives him crazy? Not a damn thing. I can’t believe you asked.

I help him clean up when he drops or spills something (even though I sometimes roll my eyes on the inside). He cheers when I get another diploma (even though he thinks the money could’ve been better invested) cause we have this unspoken agreement that each one of us is about as perfect as we can stand and not a drop more, so we cut each other some slack and call it endearing quirkiness.

I ride with him to Lowe’s, he drives me to the fabric store just so we can be together.

Now that I’m seriously writing my book and he’s home 24/7, he’s taken over most of the cooking and grocery shopping, something I’ve always despised doing and he has never really minded.

We recently bought a boat that takes us around the lake twice in less than half the time we used to spend making one lap around in the pontoon boat. We wanted sport and speed this time because we’re much younger now.

I may be a bit more vocal and he may take a few more meds, but we still laugh and hug and hold hands and kiss. We still ask each other questions and listen to the answers. We tell each other what intrigues us, what tickles us, what puzzles us. We overlook the bad and point out the good. We ask each other for help, though sometimes we don’t wait for the asking to step in and assist.

Mostly, though, we laugh. We laugh a lot. We laugh at each other (eventually), and we laugh at ourselves. We laugh when things take a funny bounce, we laugh when things are easy peasy. Life is funny, and we feast on that.

By now, we’ve known each other 39 years instead of the scant 62 days we knew each other before we became engaged, and the feelings that first connected us remain intact – wizened and weathered, perhaps, but enduring despite it all.

He continues to say that I was the best he could do with the car he was driving at the time. And I still say he was the best I could do with the boobs I had at the time.

to be continued . . .

30

She draws:

3 3 30Jul2012 30

I stitch:

30

You might’ve noticed a difference in size. The first 27 drawings were done in what was left of my small, pocketbook-sized (1/4 of a sheet of letter-size paper) journal and the promotional notepad I swiped from beside the telephone (a wee bit larger than my pocketbook journal). Nancy went through those 27 sheets of paper fairly quickly, so Angela forked over the blank pages left in her journal, which happens to be 5.5 x 8.5, or the same as 1/2 a sheet of letter-size paper. I am trying to remain as true as possible to the originals. Angela had 14 blank pages in her journal, then we move to the full-size composition books, 8.5 x 11.

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.

embodiment

DSC05748

do it just for today
then tomorrow
then the next day
and the next.
do it for as long as it takes
till you no longer
need a sticky note
to remind you:

be the character you want to play.
be the apology you want to say.
be the song you want to sing.
be the partner you want to love.
be the verb you want to enjoy.
be the dance you want to do.
be the walk you want to take.
be the letter you want to write.
be the altar you want to create.
be the ink you want to spill.
be the tree you want to hug.
be the friend you want to have.
be the life you’ve always imagined.

29 (and a review)

First, she draws:

3 2 29Jul2012 29

Then I stitch:

29

I’ve decided to post a week’s worth every Sunday,
so we can see them side by side.

Week One, 1-7:

1 7bRes

Week Two, 8-14:

8 14aRes

Week Three, 15-21:

15 21bRes

Week Four, 22-28:

22 28bRes

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.

28

First, she draws:

Angela1

Then I stitch:

28a

28b

This project is
changing me in ways
that are beyond the realm of words.
Today as I prepared to
snap a photo
of #28 on a boulder beside
the waterfall at our front door:
magic.


Awe is a sign
of allowing ourselves
to be touched by beauty’s
transcendent quality.
Wonder connects us to
a childlike openness,
to the world’s possibilities.

(Sorry I can’t remember who said this.
I wish it had been me,
but it wasn’t.)

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.

27

first, she draws:

NancyFriday027

then i stitch:

27

Soul receives from soul that knowledge,
therefore not by book
nor from tongue.
If knowledge of mysteries
come after emptiness of mind,
that is illumination of heart.
~ Rumi

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.

26

she draws:

NancyFriday026

i stitch:

26b

What we make,
why it is made,
how we draw a dog,
who it is we are drawn to,
why we cannot forget.
Everything is a collage,
even genetics.
There is the hidden presence
of others in us,
even those we have known briefly.
We contain them
for the rest of our lives,
at every border we cross.

~ Michael Ondaatje

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.

25

she draws:

NancyFriday025

i stitch:

25

Art is a language,
instrument of knowledge,
instrument of communication.
~ Jean Dubuffet

Nancy made one pen stroke in this drawing.

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.

it’s simple, really

1

when i say yes, please
or no, thank you
or even just yes or no . . .

when i speak without pre-qualifying
or apologizing for what i’m about to say . . .

when i lay down the need to defend
what i know to be True . . .

when i simply show up and live
my one wild and precious life,
the life that has my name
and nobody else’s name
on it . . .

when i create “just because”,
without worrying a single wrinkle
about the ability gang:
marketability
sustainability
credibility
or if it’s a good use of my time or not . . .

when i live as though living is the only thing that matters . . .

that’s when i know glee
that’s when i know ease
that’s when i know play
that’s when i know free
that’s when i know full.

~~~~~~~

inspired by today’s skypeversation with my friend and writing partner, julie daley
whose birthday is tomorrow, 7/26.
all together now: happy birthday to you . . .

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