May 2006

My youngest son is snug in bed and I have just finished tucking many packages of missives and notecards into their boxes in preparation for a show I have in a few days. While I cut and fold and package, I sometimes think about where these little cards and papers will end up. Will they sit in a drawer…..will they brighten someone’s dreary day….will they help make or strengthen connections between people? Can stationery assist in saving the world?

I am smiling as I write this, but I have been thinking about this since my first post……I was still full of tears for the world when I went to our Friends Meeting a few Sundays ago. I was graced with beautiful, listening women-friends there who let me share my feelings of that week and then came up with a truly healing idea for me. Why not make a line of cards and donate the profits to a cause that will reach some of the people who are suffering? I know it will be a small gesture, but it will do some good I know, and it will give me something practical to do with my sadness.

When this weekend’s show is over, I am eagerly anticipating coming home and designing a set of cards that will speak of peace and compassion. I hope you will find them on my website in a few weeks. How grateful I am for good friends! And I think about the stationery I have sitting neglected in drawers (yes, it is true!), and how I want to use it more often to nurture those friendships. I will write more of this in the future, for I have an idea it is something most of us are sorry to have let slip out of our hands a bit since this wonderful webby world came along.

Here it is, 10 pm in the East and my youngest son is now in bed. When I proposed the idea of doing a blog to my family, this son was not overjoyed. He sees his mama in front of the computer too much as it is….designing new creations, keeping in touch with friends, gathering website orders and working on the website. I call this son our “compass” sometimes. It is he that notices when we are all going our separate ways too often, or not playing enough together….I notice his expression or too-quiet spirit and then he tells me what is wrong. I am a compass too, of course, but it is nice to have his back-up. Then we stay off the computer for awhile, spend more time playing card games and going for walks….until the next time we need a little nudge.

I promised My Little Compass that I would write here only when he was in bed or out and about….so here I am! It has taken a bit of work to get everything looking pleasant and welcoming. Please let me know what you think. And much as I would like you to find a new post everyday (isn’t it nice when that happens on blogs we love?), I also promised my family I would write when I felt moved to and no more. Reading blogs can be so terribly time-consuming, but so nourishing as well. Just another something to have to keep in balance.