I believe that I was raised to be who I am. I was lucky enough to have parents that allowed me to be who I was. They allowed me to discover who I wanted to be. Growing up I never felt pressure from my parents to fit into a little box of perfection, a little box that fit their needs. It may have been that I was the youngest of 4, if I dare say the surprise of the family, and I got the more laid back parents. Or it could be that God just gave my siblings and I some pretty amazing parents.
My parents allowed me to be crafty, they allowed me to be artistic, they allowed me to find that thing that really makes me excited… for instance we had a large picture window in our front room that allowed us to see the dirt road, the field behind the road and spectacular sunsets. It was beautiful. It was also an open canvas. I’m not really sure how it started, but somehow the idea of painting on this big beautiful window came to me. Mom was totally on board (or if she wasn’t, she never said no). She gave me some paints and said go for it… I basically just painted holiday scenes, but if you think about it… a holiday basically happens every single month. So, every single month for several years an image or two, or three was painted on this big picture window. I remember thinking how awesome it was that I got to do this, that everyone going up and down our street could see what I was doing… and I wasn’t ashamed of it. I was growing into a person who was okay with being different. I was growing into the me that I am now. It wasn’t just the window that I got to paint on. My room was COVERED in glow in the dark items. Stars galore, I even got glow in the dark paint and crayons for presents, to add to the decorations of my room. When visitors would come and stay the night they always slept in my room, I can remember my Aunt and Uncle saying that they felt like they were in outerspace because of all the stars… again, it was a small way that my parents allowed me to express myself. Stars could be taken down and walls could be painted over… looking back at those times when I was allowed to be creative has made me appreciate my parents more and more
Now that I have Lexi, it’s important for me to allow her to be who and what she wants to be. This weekend I bought a couple blank canvases, some paint brushes and allowed her to be creative. She loved being able to paint whatever she wanted… granted a lot of what she painted looks like a blob of blue, purple and green, but it’s her art… she claims that it’s a waterfall… and you know what. Lexi’s first painting is hanging on our wall of photos. And she’s proud of it! And I’m proud of it. Because right now she is forming who she will become. She is only three, I know, however, it’s these times that I can allow her to be free and not fear that there is any other force driving her… that she is acting and creating with her own little mind.. with no fear of how someone criticize her art, with no fear that someone will criticize HER… She can do this creative act FEARLESS… how awesome is that?!?!?
Thanks mom and dad for letting me ruin the windowsill of the big picture window. It took on additional colors every time I decided to be artsy…
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