Like 15 soccer games in one weekend crazy.
Like "why did I take on that freelance project? crazy.
Like three car repairs in one month crazy.
Like too many people needing too many socks and too many meals and too many interventions crazy.
But it turns out, there's a cure for that. I found it in my very own, crazy whack-a-doodle house yesterday morning. I was racing around trying to get everyone out the door, which I'll just say up front I really suck at doing. Spare me the lecture about teaching everyone to do for themselves. I'd suck at it if were only me I needed to get ready. I'm raising little apples that aren't falling far from me, so they all suck at it too.
So there I am, racing, stressing, and spreading my unique brand of freak-out far and wide among my minions. The angst was high, my friends, the mama was frazzled. But all of the sudden, and for no particular reason, I got stopped short by this, hanging on my wall as it has for the past few years:
That is a beautiful ceramic piece, handmade by our neighbor Matt. It stopped me short because just a glance at it reminded me--in a moment of chaos--that beauty exists. People create things and people give gifts and people share things with other people. I don't know why it stopped me short yesterday, May 17, 2014, and why it hasn't done that before. I don't know why that face needed to speak to me just then. But I'm so glad it did.
While this may sound hokey, it was a moment that truly and practically helped me calm down. Oh sure, the crazy continued, as it always has and will for the foreseeable future. But I had a small glimpse into something else, into a place where people take their hands and make something from nothing, and then give what they created away, creating something more, creating relationships, and also moments for crazy, whack-a-doodle mamas to find a little peace.
Thank you Matt!
Seriously people, make some stuff and give it away. It's a freakin' transformational act.
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