Everyday Matters

Many things are triggering thoughts of Aunt Kathy (AK) these days.  It goes without saying but seems important that I say she was my beloved Aunt, younger sister to my mother; older sister to three siblings, daughter of Charles and Carolyn Heasley,  mother to Lars and Kajsa, wife to Gunnar, artist, dulcimer player and so much more.

I browsed her blog, My Creative Blog Spot, the other day and absently clicked on a link she had to another blog, that of Danny Gregory’s Everyday Matters.  A couple of years ago she encountered his book, The Creative License:  Giving Yourself Permission to be the Artist You Truly Are.  She felt so passionately about this book that she purchased it for all in her life.  I received my copy when I was living in Ohio…and it did motivate me to make art.  Here are a few of the sketches and journal pages the gift of the book inspired. 

 

But now- I turned to his blog to find him writing about sorting through his deceased wife’s wardrobe.  She reportedly completed suicide last year.  I knew about this because AK told me.  She read about it, and it was unsettling.  She was already fighting lung cancer.  It reminded me of my grandfather being unsettled by the events of 9/11/01 before he died.  Perhaps the magnitude of these things aren’t comparable but unsettling news towards the end of life are what they are.

Anyway, I read about Danny Gregory sorting through the rainbow of colors and black that was his wife’s wardrobe and I found myself thinking about AK.  Her things are being sorted through.  Her style was clean, appropriate and matter of fact.  She didn't fuss about hair, make-up, manicures. She consulted about what to wear.  The art and music she made were exacting. She followed recipes, measured things, ironed things.  Funny, because as I write this, I realize I am almost the exact opposite.  I attend to what she didn't and rarely give a care for precision.  And yet she got me, understood me, supported me, and had the ability to think about things on a deep level.  She read this blog, followed my running, asked me about me. She was so smart.  I miss her cooing voice and her un-manicured hands.  I don’t think my life will be the same without her.  She added a rainbow of color to this life and taught me that everyday matters.