Synchronicity

Recently, the word “legacy” has been jumping out at me; whether I’m reading, collaborating, contemplating about all of the self-perceived wisdom I must pass on to my children, or listening to the news…

…Synchronicity is happening – always.  Whether or not we see or hear it and connect the dots is another matter.

Just this morning, another newscaster reported on today’s-front-page-news-soon-to-be-tomorrow’s-back-page-news: the fall of another legendary sports figure.

That tiny voice in my head thought again about the idea of legacies.  I was irritated by the distraction.  “I have enough distractions to keep myself busy for a lifetime,” I thought.

A couple months ago, it happened again – another “distraction,” so to speak.

The Distraction

I bumped into my friend, Patrik, who I hadn’t seen in a long time; a year maybe.

Another year prior to this, I had seen his wife, Chrissy’s art project and he suggested I might take a look at her accompanying narrative, which was ready for editing.

I’m not an art aficionado, but after living in Los Angeles and working in film, television, theatre and screenplay/manuscript development for a long time, I was fortunate to have worked with, personally and professionally, across all mediums, (except for maybe paper-cutting) the best of the best in the world of entertainment and multi-media.

Collaborating with amazing artists is an exciting and fulfilling experience, but there couldn’t have been any way to prepare for how I would feel when Chrissy opened up the door to her studio – her heart – and I walked in.

Inside, I remember thinking: “Hello.  And I’m ‘Alice in Wonderland.”

It felt magical.  I was mesmerized and inspired by the sight of every nook and cranny in her studio.

The Girl with a Gift

Displayed in Chrissy’s studio were shadowboxes, each one measuring 2’x1’ in size.

Each separate shadowbox represented one page of her artwork and soon to be book.

Eventually, they would all be photographed, the appropriate text inputted into the computer and once merged the result would be her book.

It was exquisitely illustrated – in three dimensions.

Inspired by her own story of struggle, Chrissy created this project by “using vintage and discarded books and journals about God and love; stories that embodied the ideas of journey and longing, hope and trust.”

For more than two years, she purposefully and meticulously hand-cut, hand-painted, and, with her feet, no, no, I’m kidding about the feet.  She used her hands too, to place every single, tiny, piece of cut paper into a specially chosen shadowbox.

Little did I know, she had literally been gluing her life back together using wood-recycled, hand-made shadowboxes as the perfect “home” for protecting her heart-work.

They housed her healing one piece of paper at a time until colors, shapes and meanings emerged and the gift of her inner-art matched up with her outer vision.

Her dream she said, was “To bring together the many words and voices spoken from inside these forgotten pages.”

“Darnit,” I thought.  “I could have ‘paper-cized’ my dreams!  Why didn’t I think of that?” (See, it’s all about Moi.)  But as Rudy’s dad said in the movie “Rudy”: “Dreams are what make life tolerable.”

It was “an exercise in the transformative power of art [and healing]” she continued; “the surrender to our own [inner] voice and the many ways every story carries with it a different version of itself.”

I can think of plenty of other ways to exercise without getting a single paper cut, and, as exciting as creative collaboration can be, it can also be challenging where egos are involved.

To Be Continued: The Business of a Mommy’s Legacy and the Joy of Storytelling

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Photo credit - Christina Vegenius

Tagged as: Family, Heart, Home, Love