I Was Wiser at 8

In elementary school you are asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" My answer was always a list of three possible options: 1. veterinarian (duh, every kid wants to do this) 2. an artist and 3. an author. These were my answers from a young age and I think the desire for all three still remain somewhere in the recesses of my heart. Aside from owning two dogs, over the years I have quieted these desires and shelved them in favor of more productive and useful activities. God has been stirring Daniel and I both over the past six months to allow ourselves to dream again. It was around the same time that we were each feeling stimulated creatively but had no outlet to explore and experiment with these new (or just repressed) desires. After admitting this to each other, we gave ourselves "permission" to be creative. I know this is sad that we felt like we needed permission to dream and I'm not sure how we got to this point of stifling ourselves. In elementary and middle school we were both involved in the gifted program which was basically an independent study program where you got to choose areas for study, exploration, creation, and experimentation. It was awesome. To be gifted in high school somehow meant to be book smart and to take the honors classes. Creativity was replaced with academic accomplishment. Continuing into college and the workplace, by my own choosing, I elevated performance and achievement over imagination.

So here I am at 28 experiencing a new liberation. This blog was intended as online therapy and after two weeks or so I realized how much I had been writing. I thought I would just post pictures and quick thoughts about the day, but I haven't just been posting, I've been writing. And it feels good. Really good. Whether it's good writing or just mediocre, I'm coming to find that I don't really care. The blog project was always supposed to be more about the process than the product created in the post...and I am loving the process. I feel like Robin Williams as the adult Peter Pan in the movie Hook who has forgotten who he is. I had forgotten.

I am remembering now.

I found a lot of things online tonight that inspired me and stirred that fourth grader who wanted to be an artist and author (oh, and veterinarian too). Tonight I'll share just one and it is my new love affair with fonts and typography. The League of Moveable Type runs a gorgeous site and blog that led me to the designer Jessica Hische. The piece at the top was birthed out of inspiration from all the great sites I stumbled upon tonight. The second piece I created in honor of the empowering quote from Jessica Hische herself.

The small things matter. Hobbies can become passions. Art may not provide a paycheck, but it is still worth creating. Sometimes the fourth grader in you knows what's best.