In Search of Possibilities

I did a very scary thing this week. I got behind the wheel of my car and drove myself to the grocery store. Several stores in fact. Since my daughter is in Oregon now and has a full-time job there, I’m on my own to get groceries unless I want to wait for my son to take me on the weekend. I hate weekend shopping. Please don’t let the cops know I’m out there. I’m being very careful and taking my time. I also drove at low traffic times. When I got home and had put away the groceries, I found I was totally exhausted as well as exhilarated. I’ve only tried to drive one other time in the last 2 years and find I still get annoyed with slow, stupid drivers. I may be dizzy but I’m alert and not texting.

While shopping, I came across a magazine I love but rarely buy because the price is substantial. It’s called “Where Women Create”. I love seeing others’ work studios and their collections of creative implements. I usually just leaf through the pictures but this time I decided to read the first article from the publisher, Jo Packham. Interesting thing about synchronicity is how it’s always there if you are open. Jo Packham spoke of her collection of this and that with the expectation of it all one day becoming a finished item. When in reality she only finished maybe 10 percent of them. She found joy in taking them out periodically and looking at them for the possibility they expressed. Jo also used a term she borrowed from Artist, Kelly Rae Roberts. It’s a term that I know fits perfectly with who I am.

We are “Possibilitarians”. I think it’s a wonderful term for those of us who have been collecting fabric, lace, ribbons, patterns, sticks, stones and pinecones. I see possibility in everything. My sister called me a hoarder. She insisted I had too much stuff. My sister has no hobbies or memorabilia. Those are my toys and I love to play with them. Hoarders can’t let anything go. I find no difficulty in donating things that I’m certain I see no possible future for in my lifetime. I promise that single-handedly, I have donated truckloads of possibilities to make room for new visions. This illness (Bells Palsy) has also put into perspective what it is I truly love to do and what needs to be released. That magazine “Where Women Create”gave me a new lease on my creative life. I see potential again.

My sister-in-law called yesterday and we discussed our hobbies and how we have so little energy to pursue them. She has considerably more health challenges than I and most of our energy goes toward breathing in and out. There are over 1800 miles between us and I realized that most of us need to be inspired by a creative community. I accomplished so much more when involved with a quilt group or an embroidery class. The camaraderie is what I miss most of all as well as the challenge to get something accomplished by next class or meeting. It’s so easy to procrastinate when you are isolated. Most of my creative materials are in storage in Oregon. My stuff here in my son’s house is disorganized. So last week was spent organizing the ribbon embroidery to see if there was something that could actually become a finished project with some success.

With the summer heat coming, I will be spending less time outside in my beloved dirt. It will be an early morning or late evening affair. Now will be the time to once again become a “Possibilitarian” in the cool of the air conditioning. I still have to have time to read from the stacks and stacks of books and magazines that inspire me each day as well as find time to journal and write to friends and family. I could get so much more done if my interests weren’t so wide and varied. It’s a curse I passed on to my children. Sorry about that my loves.

As long as I’m a “Possibilitarian” I will never know the meaning of the word “bored”. I am not sure if it’s a word I have ever used. Now, procrastinate, that’s one I’m way too comfortable with. So my magazine has inspired me once again and I hope to be an inspiration for others who are debilitated. There must be joy in the creating to be worthwhile. Time to get off my pro cras tinate and back into joy and possibility. How do you find your “Possibilitarian”?

From my heart to yours,
Marlene