Pencil, paper, happy
Many of my earliest memories are from around four to five years old. These years stick in the corners of my mind. In specific, this is a period when I recall spending the most time with my mother. As the youngest in my family, my siblings were either grown and out of the house or in school at this time of my life. I spent a good deal of this time entertaining myself.
Once everyone else was off to school or work, my mother and I got to work. Each morning we vacuumed and dusted the main floor of the house. This was usually followed with the occasional chores like getting laundry going, vacuuming the basement or ironing clothes. Ironing clothes was an event in my house. The scissor leg ironing board was set up in the kitchen (the phone was in the kitchen) and multiple laundry baskets of clothes were hauled in for “pressing.” Hours went by and everyone had freshly pressed clothes.
More times than not, when Mom was ironing, I was installed at the kitchen counter for hours with a coloring book or just paper and crayons. Mom would either be on the phone with one of my family members or jabbering on with me while she ironed away the afternoon. Funny thing is, someday my kids may have a similar memory of me. I spent loads of time on the floor with them along with large pads of paper and colored pencils.
In each of my kids early years of school I made pictures on a 3×5 piece of paper for in their lunch. Like many kids, those first few years of school were tough. My hope was that a little picture in their lunch would at least give a bright spot in their day. If they were having a really tough stretch, I would go have lunch with them in the cafeteria. I brought my little drawing pad and pencil with me to draw anything my son or another kid would ask for.
Drawing has always been a part of my life where I’ve found peace. I’m by no means a professional artist, but I do enjoy everything about the experience. Make no mistake I’ve always doodled in meetings or while on long phone calls. Like many things in life, as we go through our journey, sometimes we don’t have time to keep up with all the things we enjoy doing. Rightfully so, other obligations come to the front – school work, kids, etc.
A few years ago I made a small Christmas list that included sketchbooks, pencils and black ink pens. I realized that being an early riser afforded me some time to reconnect with finding calm in drawing.
Drawing connects me to so many great memories from my childhood as well as memories with my children. More than anything, it is a great creative outlet. My career is not in a creative field. So, anytime I get to draw or create something is time well spent. I’m thankful for all the points in life that have helped to keep a pencil in my hand. Pencil + paper = Happy
Probably my favorite more recent drawing.
