My Children and Grandbaby - Inspired by All 5!
Prompting from Reverb13 and the dear KatMcNally.
Who inspired me in 2013?
What gifts were given?
How will I carry these into 2014?
I feel I should warn you before I actually write what I want to write:
Cliché is something that gets on my nerves almost as much as people speaking loudly using bad language in public.
So with that, I confess my children were my #1 inspirers in 2013. Each one was miraculous and each one challenged me to not only be the best mother I am able to be from moment to moment, but each one also inspired me to be the best human being I can be from moment to moment. My new grandbaby, Jaxon, is a delight and I’m meddling even now (thanks to facebook and stalking his Mom’s page)I comment on Beyunca’s photos “Put socks on that baby!” and felt very brave to meddle when I had a more serious conversation on Friday. I don’t mess around with worrying about upsetting anyone if it feels that important to me.
Katherine does not let anything stop her: she has her eyes on her goals and is constantly moving forward.
Emma asks the tough questions and is truly a no-holds-barred young woman. She has also been a tireless advocate for the underdog, even when that underdog is herself.
Samuel is allowing his curiosity out and continues to regale me with the most detailed facts I have ever thought about and is always hungry to learn more as he follows his fascinations down his life’s stream.
This was less than 100 years ago. The work still isn't done.
Outside of those four wondrous people, I was very inspired by the suffragists, especially the ones who were jailed repeatedly for standing peacefully signs simply asking questions, simply wanting a dialog. The Workhouse Prison where many of these women were sent is now an art center: I visited the Workhouse Arts Center this Summer in Northern Virginia where women were subjected to beatings, forced feedings, tortures – unspeakable conditions and some of them for nine months, including women in their seventies.
I didn’t realize how bad it was for these women until this year, and visiting the Workhouse and talking to the artists who have studios there now was very inspiring for me.
How do these gifts move me forward into and through 2014?
All of these individuals – my children and the suffragists – stayed the course through the thick and thin. They didn’t stop moving forward. They didn’t spend a lot of time whining, blaming or arguing about where they happened to land in life, they simply took stock of their situations, worked with what they had and spread the word. They put their heads down and ran with it, a football analogy from a long ago friend.
I plan to do a lot of putting my head down and running in 2014. I plan on building up with whatever I have and not whining to others (or to myself!) about the conditions I am in or any “woe is me” kind of verbal clamoring.
This will be a year of centered change, conscious growth and renewal. I’m excited for it and standing, centered and reaching up and out and through.
I’m glad you’re here, with me now, so I may tell you.
Now, tell me - what has your inspiration been in 2013?
How will that continue in 2014?
=====
Check out the prompt today for the specific wording and ways to connect by visiting 
KatMcNally.com.
=====
Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist. Her word-love themed art will be for sale at a First Friday soon, when it is warmer than it was in December!, in Downtown Bakersfield. Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.
Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot
Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)
Follow on Instagram
And naturally, on Pinterest, too!
© 2013 - Julie Jordan Scott - all rights reserved.
