I'm big fan of what comes from
Shimelle.com, and this September she is guiding subscribers through a series of prompts that have allowed me to ponder, what New Thing I have learned each day. I sincerely enjoyed using her daily prompts last year to start conversations with my family about what I was learning, as well as what they have or have yet to learn. There are so many stories I have heard as an older person that may have been quite influential had they been told to me as a younger person...but, then again, maybe not! After all, don't most teenagers think they have an edge over "old people?" Hmmm. Anyway, I enjoyed the process of talking at the table with our children about lessons learned and committed to doing the same this year, once the course, open through and to the month of September, opened up.
Committed... that's what I should be, for thinking that I would be able to follow an even more rigid system of recording thoughts and topics, when even last year's section of spiraled notebook paper fell short of capturing the full 30 days. I mean, how many times have I taken a very simple, effective process and transformed it into a completely uninteresting, utterly avoidable task? The answer reader, is MANY. So yeah, I placed divided page protectors in my working scrapbook album, labeled each one with a easy-peel-off label, and even sectioned off a special spot for our trip to Alaska pictures taken last week. All this was done days before the class even started!
And then, I didn't write down more than two or three of the subjects. In a notebook, on in my planner. Not even on the pretty pieces of patterned paper I specifically put in my planner with which I intended to record upon. 'Cause I didn't write out a single story shared. And, truth be told, I hardly shared a bit of what I read in my emailed PDF's nearly every day (I did read the prompt most every day. Well, more days than not) with anyone else, let alone my family members.
All this not doing kind of, bothered me. I started to do the, why did I even do all that work in my album, mumbo jumbo. Creative process interferers are what those sentences are. My month didn't go the way I wanted it to and the intentions I had fell somewhat short. And that's okay. I've learned that every project, even a repeated one, can be unlike another. I didn't stop looking for lessons, I just didn't validate them with recorded verbiage. I felt them occur, more than made them happen, I guess.
My cardmaking is a perfect example of when this works well in my life; not only can I hardly create two very similar cards, two made to be exactly alike is practically unfathomable. That's actually what makes them valuable to me... each one is made with a person or story in mind at the time. I want each recipient and or sender to feel they have the perfect thing in their hand, to feel reached for, remembered. Which brings me to another great example of creating without standards of exactitude; my scrapbook pages. I can follow the exact same pattern/template/sketch or what have you, but depending on which photo, patterns of papers, color schemes, and embellishments are combined, the feeling of the writing, the wording of the title, etc- they will all work towards a new look that is unique to the layout and not the sketch followed.
So, back to my not following the "rules" for Learning Something New Everyday, which Shimelle repeats, are not in existence. Sitting at the breakfast table with my family on our second day at sea, cruising toward the capital city of Alaska (pictured in the previous post), I laughed when I realized the East Indian family sitting behind me had their very own "Food Saver" brought from home being dished onto the husband's meal.
"Food Saver," you ask? Well, most of know someone who just has to have some Thing on their food to make it palatable- be it black pepper, salt, tobacco sauce, ketchup, etc. My honey has constantly changing add-it-to-all; past inclusions being ginger, nutmeg, Dijon mustard(s), and, for this trip, the cayenne pepper. The food saver! For any meat not spiced well or at all, for the eggs cooked any which way, for a dash of hot lemon water cleansing, or maybe even for fake on the spot tearing up of the eyes! Okay, the last two were just things I thought of :-)
I shared this story of following along in the class, attempting to learn something new each day, the food saver moniker, the laugh I had as I pondered the opportunity to share this very post's contents as I had hoped to do... at the breakfast table, with my family, learning with each other, that sometimes, a simple taste from home can make you feel as if you've not left it.
Then we shared the tale with the subjects, and our new friend Raj's delectable addition was, (wait for it)
Pickled Mangoes, made from scratch and brought home from he and wife Sheila's most recent trip to their ancestral home of India. Sometimes, a lesson to be learned is right where you are! I might mention, I also learned in speaking with this most delightful couple, that unlike English, or French, their native language is, for the most part, pronounced phonetically. Interesting, AND handy to know!
So, do you know the capital city of the great big state of Alaska? Comment below!
