Last night, I went to a beautiful, holiday craft night at my church. All the supplies for several crafts were laid out on tables. All we had to do was sit down and create something.
My garland began as nothing more than a long string with one bead at the end. There were small beads, large beads, long beads and paper stars to choose from. I knew the smallest beads would be slow going, but I liked how they looked. Bead by bead, my garland grew as I talked and listened to friends at the table.
Today, I was despairing over being behind posting my photos again. My life affirming project had become a discouraging burden. Keeping up sounds oh so easy – when I’m keeping up. Then, it’s Thanksgiving or a kid has a fever and I’m catching up once more.
Do you know Anne Lamott’s book Bird by Bird? It’s one of my favorites. I bought it twenty years ago in a small, overstuffed bookstore in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
This is the story the title comes from.
“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Today’s photo count: 123. Two thirds of the photos were of the little ones sledding and playing in the snow. I enjoyed them but wasn’t excited about any of them. Then I went on to the garland.
