An almost calm face not quite oversees the work of her hands,
a gaggle of white yarn to untangle.
She'll get it sorted out though and a grimace now and then will not disturb the almost calm unknotting.
I wonder if the tangles within are sorted out more calmly or more painfully.
But yarn and tangles will be sorted out Ann;
And calm and pain or both need not be.
This poem was written for me by my theater arts teacher in high school. He had cafeteria duty one day and observed me untangling a skein of wool which I had dyed in art class. The photo of me was taken by a fellow art student while I was doing some sort of project in pottery class. I did have a tendency to wander off into my own little world when it came to art!
I loved the art department and spent most of my free time in there. A trio of three talented ladies taught painting, drawing, weaving and natural dyes, and pottery. The drawing teacher was really pretty and had long strawberry blond hair. I forget her name! But I didn't do a lot of painting or drawing. The weaving teacher was full of ideas and loved letting us experiment and tryout all kinds of crazy dye-stuff materials. The pottery teacher was down-right kooky but the students loved her! I was always working on some sort of weaving or throwing something in the kiln.
I enjoyed creative writing and although I didn't act in the plays, I usually worked on the sets. While high school could have been a tumultuous time in my life with some of the upheavals in my family, I had a great group of friends through my church, a place to let my creativity out, and people like Mr. Jacobs and Kathy Schultz or Eva Broussard who would see something special in me and encourage me to come out of my shell a bit.
There were tangles. Some simple like cute boys, best friends and younger sisters. And others weren't; like my mother's alcoholism and the unexpected death of my six year old cousin. Through it all my faith carried me through and gave me an anchor when the world seemed to get chaotic. And eventually those tangles did get sorted out as life usually does.
Looking back on those years gone by often bring back the thoughts of all uncomfortable times. The high school years for me were not the happiest times in my life, but I came through it all ok. It would have been nice if those years would have been more different, but one must accept what they were.
Ann this is a wonderful time capsule of your years. Our faith is always there through the special friends that you make. I was out the other night with women from my book club/church that have known me for forever and love me anyway. Nothing like it.
@nicolecampbell Thank you Nicole! Well, my personality hasn't changed much, but I sure wish I still had that beautiful long hair and slender figure still!
@digitalrn It's sad when the hard parts of high school overshadow the fun parts. Thankfully I think I saw mine in balance although the tough times weren't "fun" until they were over! In many ways though, I feel those loses and hardships that I went through made me a better person.
@cdonohoue Thanks Cathy! I'm glad you still have those friends in your life. That kind of long term friendship is priceless!
Great photo and story Ann. I loved art too. As for tangles being untangled... I am not finding that. Perhaps sometimes things aren't meant to be good for some people. It's good you had something like your faith to help you through. I am not religious. I couldn't understand why if there was a god he could let the horrible things happen to me. High school was a nightmare and so has adulthood. Sorry... Just triggering things. I'm glad you had the support you did. And still do. You have a great husband, kids and grandkids. You're quite a lucky lady.
September 22nd, 2014
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@digitalrn It's sad when the hard parts of high school overshadow the fun parts. Thankfully I think I saw mine in balance although the tough times weren't "fun" until they were over! In many ways though, I feel those loses and hardships that I went through made me a better person.
@cdonohoue Thanks Cathy! I'm glad you still have those friends in your life. That kind of long term friendship is priceless!
@kerristephens Thank you Kerri!
@sarasdadandmom Thank you Terry!
@salza Thank you Sally!
@daisymiller Thank you Daisy!