Our Lives In Color (aka- what opens up when you really care for yourself)

I am not one to really plan nice things for myself. I just don’t. I follow along with my kids and try to plan things for our family, which really can be a bugaboo these days because my kids are teenagers who rarely like the same things at the same time, and even less often do they want to do those things with their parents (and I totally get that!). Sometimes our family outings are better suited towards the model of parent-child dates. One parent and one child go one place, while the other parent and the other child go someplace else.

And somewhere in there is time with my husband and our marriage, but even this takes a back seat to the taking of the children to their different places. And then, at the very end of this list, is…me!!!

But this month? This month has brought me so much nurturing and creative energy. I’ve been so spoiled with this goodness.

We had Printer’s Row Lit Fest here, just around the corner from our building. I got to see the authors Christopher Paul Curtis (author of Bud Not Buddy and The Watsons Go To Birmingham), Viet Thanh Nguyen (author of The Sympathizer, among other books), and Neal Allen, author of Good Writing, which he co-wrote with his wife Anne Lamott).

I went for a weekend trip to visit my sister, sister-in-law, and parents who live in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which is such a lovely little city. I took the train there and back and gosh, I love me a good train ride. I found that the album Home by The Gathering makes for perfect listening on a moving train. The trip each way was only two hours and I really wished it was longer!

But my month of joy continued after that, for two weekends ago I had another literary day, volunteering at the Pilsen Open Books warehouse for an event they held for Chicago Public School teachers, followed by a book discussion with author Marlon James, whose new book The Disappearers was just released. The entire day was perfect. My writing group A Writing Room held sessions for their editing camp over the past month which were amazing and made me love the craft of writing even more, by listening to these teachers.

We made a quick day trip to the Jollay apple orchard in Coloma, Michigan to go apple picking and to walk through the maze (which apparently was a sorghum maze rather than an official corn maze). There is a delightful haunted house within an old school house on the property as well.

And finally, this past Sunday my husband and I were able to see Eric Idle from Monty Python who has recently released a book titled Idle in Provence. And THAT talk was beautiful as well.

Sitting with my nephew Ben in Kalamazoo.

Open Books Pilsen

The Deering Library at the Northwestern campus up in Evanston (near where we saw Eric Idle’s talk)

Eric Idle!

What I have learned from these days?

1. I always benefit from getting out of my apartment and living a bit.
2. How lucky are we to be surrounded by such brilliant, talented people? What a time to be alive.
3. My creativity is welcomed in this world, and we all have a right to be in these spaces.

Fall is such a rich time in so many ways. By participating in these events this past month, I feel such a greater acceptance for my own pursuits. My surroundings feel more spacious. I feel happier than I’ve felt in months.

My challenge is to continue to pursue these moments throughout the year, either on my own or in company with others. What brings you joy like this? What if we all allowed it for ourselves?