life is a verb ... it's a blog tour ... hop on the blog express .....

i know, i know .... you dear ones who read my blog regularly have been sent over to 37 days so, so many times to read something mind blowing or heart changing, right? ....but .... i'm just gonna say it again .... patti

 digh, the groovy author at 37 days? she rocks .... she's oh so far up on the groovy meter ......  

patti's on a blog tour now ... stopping right here, right now .... welcome to all of you 37 days tourists who are new to my art blog ..... so ... here's my story of patti's story .... 

patti's stepfather was diagnosedwith lung cancer .... and died 37 days later .... that's a mean reminder of just how hard life can be .... just how suddenly things can change ..... just how fleeting life can be .....her response was to start writing, to leave a written legacy of written goodness for her children .....  i became obsessed with patti's blog when i had a friend diagnosed with lung cancer ..... live better ... live bigger .... really? to me? live smarter! live the way you are supposed to be living ... not on auto pilot .... i have little notes to myself around my house "live intentionally" "love more" "laugh lots" .... but when they stop being nice notions and become words to live by, then we're really living, right? 

so .... this groovy chick, patti digh, writes  blog posts that make me cry (yes, honey, i know you think we're watching tv together ... but i'm web surfing ....i'm 

reading a blog .... wah! i'm reading the most heart wrenching, tear enducing, lesson learning STORY ever .... wah!) ......patti writes from her heart, spot on, right into your heart ..... i'm not sure that i'm physically able to live the kind of life that her blog, and her book, make me want to live .... i might be a little to A.D.D. to really remember to be that person that i think we should all strive to be ... but ... that's just it ... i think we're all supposed to strive for it ..... maybe not be it, get it, live it, do it .... but in the journey of just trying, aren't we living more intentionally ....being better ... living more....loving bigger?

  

so here's the next bit of my story ....once upon a time, i was reading archived posts of patti's 

blog ... and i read one called carry a small grape .... and it spoke to me ... it spoke to my inner three year old ... the one who likes colorful bandaids, tiny bells, superballs, little boxes, rubber bands, old keys, bottle caps, game pieces and all the other groovy things that end up in my junk drawer... just because i like them ...they aren't actually junk... they are treasures ....  and that same me who knows to cherish and hold the little things , also does art that glorifies the little things ... art that is all about finding, knowing, caring for the small bits ... cause it's all the small bits of things that make up the important big bits ......i have an entire set of art on flickr that celebrates the small things ...the little joyful this and thats ......the happy bits that make up the larger lives ..... 

so ....i commented on patti's blog about the post that touched me so .... and she emailed me back RIGHT away .... saying she had been having a fretful time and thank you because she had needed a positive comment ... and could she see the art .... i sent patti a link to this picture on flickr .... an assemblage that i said was, to me, the exact same story as hers ..... i told her how touched i was by her words and her work ... she told me that she was collecting art to go with her blog stories in a book .... would i submit this one ... 

lots of artists were participating and everyone was doing two INCH by three INCH artist trading cards .... um ...patti, didja notice mine is square? not two by three ... oh, that's ok ....... um .... patti, did i tell you that this piece is three FEET square ..... that's one monstro artist trading card! 

..... but .... it was ok ... and it is in her book ..... before i'd even flipped through the book to see my art with the story, i noticed it FIRST on the inside front cover! ....in the top corner.... FIRST ... right there!  i'm certain that it is intentional and she loves me best .....it's in there first, ya know ..... (la, la, la .... i'm singing with my fingers in my ears so that no one can tell me otherwise... it is so INTENTIONALLY first ... i'm sure) .... she loves me and MY grape metaphor best of all the hund

reds of fabo pieces of art in the book ... yup ... i know it ..... i'm the confident type .....

in august, i was preparing to teach a sunday school class for this school year ... i had my plan (art journals, paints, discussions) but i didn't have my curriculum ... and then ... kismet, serendipity, total joy! i get life is a verb in the mail .... and all through the book, there are challenges ... action challenges to do now ... discuss now ... write about now ... and movement challenges .... long term (37 whole days) challenges ..... my friend that i've never met, patti digh, graciously had mailed me the long sought after artsy sunday school curriculum that i needed .... i am SO lucky ..... 

this sunday, my sunday school class starts .... i'll sit at a table with a group of groovy seeking women .... and we'll talk ... and learn ... and listen .... and explore .... and we'll live intentionally ... or at least a bit more intentionally .... as we try to become what we are meant to be ....

so .... i emailed patti recently and said ...oh, my procrastinating self hasn't gotten around to 

emailing you about a blog tour date .... so, if you have a day free, any day, i'll do it .... so .... what does she email me back .... september 11th .... um ... oh ... but that's a hard day ..... a really hard day ... a sad day ... but .... actually ..... what a perfect remembering kind of day to think about liveing intentionally ...... so .... as i post this on september 11th, remembering, and as you read it ..... ask yourself about being mindful, about living intentionally, about having 37 days to live and love and exist ...... who are you and what do you want to be ......

patti says: Say Yes, Be Generous, Speak Up, Love More, Trust Yourself, and Slow Down ..... don't you think that sounds about right? let's work on it, ok?