Day 11 – the blue suitcase My mother opened the letter from the school and read to me that i had been selected from the entire school to do the annual official Christmas card. It felt good that I was picked because it was like winning an award. Art was one of my favorite things for as long as I can remember.
The school i attended was Saint Gregory’s Elementary in San Mateo California. It was a kindergarten through the 8th grade private school so the pool of kids working on the Christmas drawing assignment was a decent size. Greg Gutfield from fox news was even a part of my class.
For the assignment i had drawn a stereotypical manger scene and apparently it was good enough to be selected. I remember being taken out of class to redo my picture on special paper with black ink which is one of my favorite mediums. I’m sure my tongue was jutted out as I carefully redrew all the lines.
When the Christmas card arrived through the mail my mother took it and showed it to me before putting it in her little blue suitcase. That is how I knew it was special.
I was told that the suitcase had been a part of her experience as an Avon lady. That suitcase held baby shoes, teeth, hair clippings from first haircuts and other important emephera. I was fascinated by that suitcase and all that it contained. I was happy my drawing found a safe place and wasn’t going to be thrown away.
My mother is immaculate to the point of being ocd although she is undiagnosed. I remember being worried about what would happen at home while I was at school. Would my toys or crayons still be there? The anxiety and daily anticipation of what i would find was punctuated by the smells cleaning aids and of dinner that she cooked daily.
I learned very early to take special care of everything if I wanted a partial chance of keeping it. I was busy every day practicing all forms of art which made its way to the trash most of the time. I was a prolific child who was careful to keep the crayons organized, in order and not broken.
It felt special to have my drawing saved, like I had done something extraordinary that deserved that space in the suitcase. That suitcase taught me the curation process in that some items deserve a special spot. In order to have something worthy of that spot you have to show up to work and practice what you do knowing full well that it may not make it into that elevated place. You have to let go of your idea of perfection and enjoy the process of creating something.
In order to keep showing up to work you have to enjoy the full process. Out of all the work you do you never know what will captivate people. You have to like your own work to find satisfaction. You can even keep working on something for years rather than throwing it away, if necessary, in order to resolve it where you like it. Work should be like play where you lose yourself in the process of being in your right brain. If you look at it like play rather than work, then it is fun. Let’s keep showing up and hoping we have something worthy of the blue suitcase!
Cathy