look momma i can fly

I'll be honest here. I've had two migraines this week and feel like another one is coming on right now (hopefully the french fries will help take care of that, for some inexplicable reason). The kids were sick and I have been sick and just when I feel like I am feeling well again, I feel sick. I have not been feeling inspired to do much but rest and make tea. Eva, on the other hand, is feeling healthy and inspired to move, photographing life, making marble art and just a little while ago she came to me and asked me to clear a space for her so that she could have somewhere to land after she flew. I looked up and saw she had feathers in her hair and feathers sticking out of her shirt and she jumped up on the back of couch and stuck her arms out (more feathers there!). I moved the Chinese Checkers and Mastermind and off she flew. This was enough to jump start at least a little creativity in me as well...



Eva's landing.

Samuel has spent the last couple of days organizing his space with his favorite things. It is a work in process and I leave most of it to him as he has very specific and particular ideas about what sort of space he is creating and how he wants to interact with his stuff. I can offer a hand here and there, an idea that has worked for me in the past, but ultimately, if I do too much of it he is frustrated that it is not really his space.

I have to say I can relate to his dilemma of wanting his stuff accessible but also feeling overwhelmed by it all. I want to see things so I don't forget them but if I see too much of it I want to leave the house. I have worked this out for myself over the years by getting rid of more and more of my stuff, whittling away at it to find what I truly love, putting away what I can in manageable and easy to access storage. I can be ruthless with my stuff and while I enjoy visiting other people's spaces that feel cozy and decorated, I definitely lean more toward the spartan, with open space being a top priority. I am curious to see how Samuel works this issue out. At the moment he seems to be using the expansion tactic rather than the whittling away tactic. He is requesting more space rather than relocating the things that don't fit. And I wonder at different tactics at different stages in our lives. Accumulation, building up, letting go...