Tag: in her own language (Page 4 of 16)

143

November 4, 2012 / jeanne / 1 Comment

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Nancy loves puzzles, at least she did. She seldom puts them tougher now – I’m not sure why – but once upon an era, she was a real puzzle whiz. She would pick up as many pieces as her left hand could hold while she used her right hand to put the pieces together, thumping them at least twice when she was sure of the fit. She didn’t build the outside first, she didn’t even turn all the pieces over when she first dumped them out of the box, I want you to know. She just started.

She just started.

I think about that as I ponder and wrestle with ideas of how I will pull this together, this first set of stitched drawings.

Puzzles3

~~~~~~~~~

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.

142

November 3, 2012 / jeanne / 0 Comments

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While I stitch, I ponder self-reliance, and as I re-read Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Essay II: Self-Reliance, these words capture me:

What pretty oracles nature yields us on this text, in the face and behaviour of children, babes, and even brutes! That divided and rebel mind, that distrust of a sentiment because our arithmetic has computed the strength and means opposed to our purpose, these have not. Their mind being whole, their eye is as yet unconquered, and when we look in their faces, we are disconcerted. Infancy conforms to nobody: all conform to it, so that one babe commonly makes four or five out of the adults who prattle and play to it. So God has armed youth and puberty and manhood no less with its own piquancy and charm, and made it enviable and gracious and its claims not to be put by, if it will stand by itself. Do not think the youth has no force, because he cannot speak to you and me. Hark! in the next room his voice is sufficiently clear and emphatic. It seems he knows how to speak to his contemporaries. Bashful or bold, then, he will know how to make us seniors very unnecessary.

” . . . mind being whole, their eye is as yet unconquered, and when we look in their faces, we are disconcerted.” Those words especially demand my attention and make me think of Nancy.

I think of so many people who have the faculties and ability to be self-reliant but steadfastly refuse, insisting instead on living their life as a victim, as perpetually put-upon, as one who is entitled. They prefer dependency, finding self-reliance too hard, too heavy, unfair. Then I think of Nancy who is self-reliant only in the realm of physiologically involuntary reflexes, and I ponder and wonder some more.

147b

~~~~~~~~~

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.

141

November 2, 2012 / jeanne / 0 Comments

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“There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time. This expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it.

It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open…”
– Martha Graham

That’s one of my favorite quotes on creativity and expression, and I love that it’s as true for Nancy as it is for you and me.

141

~~~~~~~~~

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.

140

November 1, 2012 / jeanne / 0 Comments

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Today I begin NaNoWriMo for the third consecutive year. The idea is that by writing 1667 words every day in November, you’ll reach the end of the month with 50k words, the average size of a novel. So (almost) every day this month, I’ll be penning a minimum of 2k words because I’m an overachiever and a realist who knows Thanksgiving is a time I’m hard-pressed to string three words together let alone 2,000. But it will not slow me down on this project or the Sketchbook 2013 project. Nancy’s done her part, now it’s up to me to do mine, and I will. I surely will.

140

~~~~~~~~~

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.

139

October 31, 2012 / jeanne / 30 Comments

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Today,
when my daughter’s ankle needed a second opinion,
and her doctor, our friend and cousin,
a dear and caring soul
who gives the best hugs ever
was unavailable
while focusing on his own healing,
I met a woman,
a doctor,
I would send Nancy to
without hesitation.
A woman,
a doctor,
who, like Frank,
knows that healing
involves caring
and eye contact
and laughter
and hugs.
A woman,
a doctor,
who, when she saw me stitching,
asked what I was doing
and stopped to listen,
really listen, I’m telling you,
and when I said I’m doing this
to give Nancy
and others like Nancy –
people from whom we tend to turn away –
voice and visibility,
grabbed her heart
and asked to see more,
vowing to find me on Facebook, even.

This woman,
this doctor,
is called Judith Chauvin.
She now knows my daughter,
and me,
and maybe one day,
if the need ever presents itself,
she’ll know Nancy, too.

139

~~~~~~~~~

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.

138

October 30, 2012 / jeanne / 17 Comments

She draws:

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I stitch:

138

And it’s just too tired out tonight for me to say more.

~~~~~~~~~

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.

103, Envoy: Noel Rozny

October 29, 2012 / jeanne / 0 Comments

103d

Today’s Envoy, Noel writes:
I tried to think
where in the world I could take you,
in this city of big shoulders
and wide beaches and sparkling lights,

103c

and over and over and over
I recalled my favorite place,

103e

tucked in from the bustle
and the roar of the trains,

103g

where there is time to sit
and breathe

103b

and catch a prayer in your lap.

And where is Noel’s delightful secret spot? The Ann Sather Garden, a little community spot located right under the el tracks in the Uptown/Buena Park neighborhood of Chicago (about two blocks north of Wrigley Field!)

I’ve never met Noel in person, and yet I know her. Does that make sense? She is a woman of integrity, compassion, and crackerjack talent as a writer. Since first our paths crossed online about two-and-a-half years ago, I see her name come across my screen and I smile. Even before I read her words, I smile. Thank you, Noel, for being an Envoy despite all the crazymakings that have invaded your life lately.

~~~~~~~~~

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.

135

October 28, 2012 / jeanne / 8 Comments

135c

Tonight’s cloth is in the talented and delightful hands of Nora Darling and Luiza Guimaraes. I first met Nora in October 2005 when she, along with her mother, Wendy and her sister, Diane, was in The Twilight Theatre’s inaugural production of Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Sound of Music. Just had the good fortune to meet Luiza, a foreign exchange student from Brazil, tonight when I dropped by for a late and not-nearly-long-enough-but-is-there-ever-really-enough-time visit with Wendy . . . who happens to be flying to LA tomorrow to be in the audience for Dancing with the Stars. Yes, really.

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(Wendy, remember what I told you: create a scene to attract the camera’s attention then wave to me.)

~~~~~~~~~

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.

134

October 27, 2012 / jeanne / 21 Comments

This is the last drawing in the 5th of 6 journals Nancy filled in June 2012

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This is how it looks in stitch,
shown here with the delectables at City Cafe in Fayetteville, GA
where we went after Alison’s show tonight:

134a

And here’s the sweet (and talented) one called Alison,
my daughter/Nancy’s niece,
also standing near the sweets.

134c

It’s been a really sweet weekend so far.

~~~~~~~~~

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.

133

October 26, 2012 / jeanne / 0 Comments

We work hand-in-hand. Nancy draws:

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Then I stitch:

133

When You Come to Love
by Ann Fisher-Wirth

When you come to love,
bring all you have.

Bring the milk in the jug,
the checked cloth on the table—
the conch that sang the sea
when you were small,
and your moonstone rings,
your dream of wolves,
your woven bracelets.

For the key to love is in the fire’s nest,
and the riddle of love is the hawk’s dropped feather.

Bring every bowl and ewer,
every cup and chalice, jar,
for love will fill them all-

And, dazzled with the day,
fold the sunlight in your sheets,
fold the smell of salt and leaves,
of summer, sweat, and roses,
to shake them out when you need them most,

For love is strong as death.

Tickled to be here today. Thank you, Ashley.

~~~~~~~~~

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.