This week — joy! (Oh gosh a memory just burbled up of reading a book while in my early twenties called Joy in the Morning — some sappy romantic yarn that made me long for intimacy and closeness and connection — kind of a theme of my adult life.) Anyways Tues was a huge bonus as I spent the entire day with my son Jeremy, visiting from Sacramento. In his bipolar state he often withdraws from the world during winter months, so when he responded to my texts last week and called me, I was very glad to hear from him. He sounded better than ever — which of course made my heart soar. Connections to our kids — jeez, those are some powerful steel cables.
We walked in Briones (gorgeous park near Orinda), went to McCaulou’s in Lafayette for old-time’s sake to get his favorite socks, reminisced about his early years in Florence, OR (endless sand dunes at the end of our street, heaven for kids), watched the Peter Jackson documentary about the Beatles, dusted off my atlas to look at maps of Ukraine and Russia and discuss the frightening world news, and I made us dinner (I love cooking for my family, it makes me really happy). We talked about my sister’s suicide, which was a very frightening event for him, as 20% of people with bipolar disorder take their own lives, and he has already survived one attempt. So he did what he does to stay on the planet — hide from the world until it feels safer to engage again. I admire him for his self-awareness and dedication to taking his meds. And as we watched John, Paul, George and Ringo interact in the studio and create music, I was reminded about Jeremy’s truly amazing musical talent, as he has an innate ability to pick up any musical instrument and teach himself to play, which he does, and very well.
This vibrating air of happiness at being with my son envelops me. He is stable and alive and well. Joy!
This painting — a small abstract done in my kitchen. I needed, myself, to interact — with inks, acrylics, pencils and watercolor.
7″ x 7″ watercolor, pen, acrylic on paper = $65