Sunday, October 11, 2009

In Honor of Breast Cancer Awareness

This is my new art piece in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Her name is "Survivor".

Saturday, October 3, 2009

My Mother's Legs

Sometimes, I look in the mirror and I see my mother staring back at me in the reflection. I think all of us who are aging have that happen every now and then and it does not really surprise us. Yesterday, though, as I was getting dressed for work, I saw my mother's legs in my mirror and they were attached to me. What I mean is that the skin on my legs is sagging, slowly making it's way to the tops of my knees. And no matter now thin I get, my legs do not change. I now have the legs of an old woman. I don't know why this surprises me so, I am creeping up towards seventy. So what do I expect? Perhaps the legs of the bouncy majorette of the 1950's? Or the firm, strong legs of the runner of the 197o's? Or the still pretty fantastic legs as I "worked out" in the 1980's?

No, those legs are gone. In their place are my mother's legs. They stare back at me in mockery, causing me to think about the things that really matter. What matters is that I have amassed a good deal of wisdom as these legs have responded to gravity; I have made a difference to the lives of many as my hair has grown whiter; and I have learned much from my life as my face has taken on its wrinkles. And so instead of quoting from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, "I grow old, I grow old, I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled...", I will quote instead from my favorite Robert Frost poem, Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening: " And I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep".

I can live with my mother's legs. I can live with my father's jaw line. But that is where the similarity ends. I am carving my own initials on the tree of my life. And the tree is only a sapling. I have much work to do.