Restlessly Creative

If you walk into Lily's room and look at it through the eyes of an exhausted mother, all you see is mess. If you look closer, you see a cake made from pillows with wash clothes as fondant and beads as trim. She'll explain how she's in a competition and the clock is running so she has to go. You'll see dozens of dolls tucked into wash cloth and towel beds. If you'd been just a few minutes earlier, you'd have heard the tender good night each doll got (good night darling, don't let the bed bugs bite), then you would have tried not to giggle as Lily rubbed her back and declared "It's hard being a mother."

We come from a creative family. Along with this, though, comes a certain level of chaos. My uncle coined it best as "a certain kind of restless creativity." My father was so talented (carpentry, sculpting, music, cooking, painting, bullshitting), but at the same time was a pack rat. With each phase of his life, came a new wardrobe, music, decor.... His mother was known for going from craft class to craft class. She taught me to cook, make crafts, paint, and never throw anything away because someday you might need it. Can you imagine trying to clean out her house after she passed away? I am creative in my own right. I am a story teller (shocking, I know). I am also the family historian (appointed by my dad) and have a crazy collection of momentos, pictures, and trinkets from various family members. I try to clear out, but it either breaks my heart of overwhelms me. Now that I moved our friend in (she has her own "restless creative vibe" herself), I need to make room.

Every Saturday I dutifully clean the house (this is another post in itself). By Saturday night, it looks like it exploded on itself. The are socks everywhere (why can't my family put socks in the hamper?), books stacked with gum wrappers as book marks, drying paintings, dolls, and doll accessories, scraps of paper with half composed sing lyrics, cups, dogs, blankets, unfinished puzzles, crayons, drum sticks ......

Just for one day, I would like a house where the rooms stay the same after I leave them. I want a model organized home. So many of my friends have said my house looks like a home, it looks like real people live her and it looks like they have a lot of fun. i hope that true. I'd prefer "creative is as creative does" as opposed to "disorganized is as disorganized does not."