My Time in the Water
Once, Grandma was distracted by a spinnaker. In a moment, the catamaran rolled onto its sail and we slid off the trampoline into the lake. This must have been 20 or 25 years ago. We were stranded together on the lake, treading water and resting on the pontoons of the catamaran, which we had pushed over, so that it was upside-down. A cruiser towed us to safety -- to the marina, I guess.
This is the story that I reflect back upon, as I remember Grandma. My time in the water with her. Grandma could be a very proper woman, reserved and mannered. She was not chatty. Or, that's not how I remember her. There is a lesson to learn from her life, something I'm thinking about. Maybe many lessons.
But I think that lesson is not anything she would have spoken. Grandma's wisdom was in her eyes and her hands. She was the sort of woman who swam to Burke Island, well into her 60s. I tried to swim it with her once and I could not keep up with her pace. She was the sort of woman who could capsize a sailboat. She had a sense of adventure.
And she also saw beauty in the world and tried to capture it. She may have been dissapointed that she was never a "success" as an artist. But I think now I can look at her paintings and drawings and see a lesson in art. It is not about acclaim or success. It is about seeing the world and reshaping the world in your art. I am amazed that she took up art late in life and committed herself to it. She left us a legacy.
This is a quick sketch of a thought. Perhaps I will write more. But I think of my time in the water with Grandma, and I am thankful for it.
This is the story that I reflect back upon, as I remember Grandma. My time in the water with her. Grandma could be a very proper woman, reserved and mannered. She was not chatty. Or, that's not how I remember her. There is a lesson to learn from her life, something I'm thinking about. Maybe many lessons.
But I think that lesson is not anything she would have spoken. Grandma's wisdom was in her eyes and her hands. She was the sort of woman who swam to Burke Island, well into her 60s. I tried to swim it with her once and I could not keep up with her pace. She was the sort of woman who could capsize a sailboat. She had a sense of adventure.
And she also saw beauty in the world and tried to capture it. She may have been dissapointed that she was never a "success" as an artist. But I think now I can look at her paintings and drawings and see a lesson in art. It is not about acclaim or success. It is about seeing the world and reshaping the world in your art. I am amazed that she took up art late in life and committed herself to it. She left us a legacy.
This is a quick sketch of a thought. Perhaps I will write more. But I think of my time in the water with Grandma, and I am thankful for it.