Friday, June 10, 2011

Five Memorable Moments of Insight

Doras at RevGals invited us to write five memorable moments of insight:

(1) I can appreciate the rain. When I lived in Columbus with my mother while working on my master's at OSU in the mid 80s, I planted a garden in her back yard. I hated the rain prior to planting that garden. But when I realized the miraculous effect the rain had on my garden, I welcomed it, prayed for it, looked forward to it.  I use to see the rain more as a nusance; an event that ruined my hair.

(2) I can paint well.  I took a painting class in college in the early 80s. I painted a replica of the poster with the two monkeys that said "hang in there."  The background looked like mashed bananas (at the suggestion of my art teacher). The second painting was a picture of a black Jesus coming out of the tomb. The monkeys won first place in our college art display contest. The black Jesus was not received too well at a predominantly white college in the 80s. I wonder if my friend Hyveth still has my paintings.

(3) There were giant turtles down by the riverbank where we lived; it was not a fictional tale. My siblings and I journey down by the riverbank while my mother was at work  and we should have been safe in the house. We did see a giant turtle. And we did get a spanking. The other thing we told our mother we discovered in the bushes along the path above the river was a two headed cat!

(4) I love to dance. My mother helped me to discover this.  She had one of those old record players in a big brown wooden cabinet. She would play records and dance around the floor with us when I was about five or six.

(5) Your don't have to have a lot to help somebody else.  Sometimes all it takes to help someone is a little bit of time.  My mother was always helping someone out of her own poverty, before and after she could no longer walk. 

4 comments:

Jan said...

A two-headed cat--and you found a picture! It's nice to read about you discovering your talents, especially with your mother.

WomanistNTProf said...

I don't recall if we really saw that cat or not; but my mother said that's what we told her. Thank you Jan.

Mary Beth said...

just lovely...especially #5.

WomanistNTProf said...

Thank you Mary Beth!