More inspirations

I’m starting with a thank-you to Mark, who after I posted about one of my birthday gifts wondered if the Barack Obama/Bruce Springsteen Renegade podcasts were still available. I checked, and they are. I intended to listen to only the first one before I began writing yesterday, but then I pulled out one of the coloring pages I’d been hoping to do so I could color while listening. Without even thinking about the Neverending Saga, I suddenly got clarity on the set of chapters I’m currently writing.

I ended up listening to the first three podcasts, and sometimes I couldn’t color because tears kept me from seeing the page. The things they talked about, their own stories beginning in their childhoods… The way they made me reflect on the beliefs and principles that underlie who I am as a human… The way my thoughts went to the things I hope to convey about artists as a writer… The fact that I’ve lost people from my life not because they died, but because I died to them by being honest… The knowledge that there are still people in my life who I know dismiss my beliefs or disagree with what I write, which means there will always be a barrier of silence between us on certain subjects, because I’m not ready to be dead to them, too, and that’s a strange path to navigate.

Anyway, I’d already decided on this coloring page a couple of weeks ago, and I knew when I got around to coloring it, I’d think about the Police song “Message In A Bottle” the entire time, since it’s always been a meaningful song to me. As I listened to the podcasts, I decided to add this lyric to the coloring page, collage style, because everything in the above paragraph made me consider how lonely it can be hoping someone will understand my voice and support my need to use it, and instead of telling me that I’m wrong, will at last least celebrate me for being who I am and be glad that I still want to use my voice and that I still think, or at least hope, there’s a reason to use it.

Only hope can keep me together
Love can mend your life
Or love can break your heart