This is from a transcript of Oprah’s finale show on Wednesday. I didn’t get to see it because we had bad weather in our area and the entire show time was taken up with weather people tracking storms (at least, according to my recording). Bummer. But I love this advice; I think it speaks to the Rare Rocks attitude well. Enjoy and look up the rest here if you are interested. By the way, I thought she looked lovely in her pale peach dress.

You let me into your homes to talk to you every day. This is what you allowed me to do, and I thank you for that. But what I want you to know as this show ends: Each one of you has your own platform. Do not let the trappings here fool you. Mine is a stage in a studio, yours is wherever you are with your own reach, however small or however large that reach is. Maybe it’s 20 people, maybe it’s 30 people, 40 people, your family, your friends, your neighbors, your classmates, your classroom, your co-workers. Wherever you are, that is your platform, your stage, your circle of influence. That is your talk show, and that is where your power lies. In every way, in every day, you are showing people exactly who you are. You’re letting your life speak for you. And when you do that, you will receive in direct proportion to how you give in whatever platform you have.

Dan’s M O S A I C Project is posting later today. The challenge was simple: do something creative and share it with the group. I wanted to do something outside of my usual repertoire – such as writing poetry or an essay – and instead combined my love for gardening and my recent interest in photography. These roses are from my front garden. I arranged them in a Ball jar and set them on the small bench I inherited from my Grandma Nickerson. This view is from above.

This weekend Macy and I were lucky enough to borrow Mom’s van, pick up my sister and her son Jake, and make a quick road trip to Omaha to celebrate my brother-in-law’s engagement. He had engineered a  sweet day that culminated in an after-party of sorts in the fabulous downtown area.

It was a 5-6 hour trip one way, but the kids entertained each other and Serenity and I chatted. There’s rarely enough time for that – as my other sister, Charity, describes well in her Mundane Monday post this week here. Sister time as a bonus, it was a gift to be able to show my support for the newly engaged couple in a tangible way, even if it has cost me some sleep and some work time.

What is more important than celebrating the commitment of two people I love to each other? I’m a big fan of marriage. I think it is quite possibly one of the most beautiful and mysterious sacraments in our modern world. Two people who come from different families, different schools, and different genders realize that despite what it might cost them, they desire full-time, full-hearted, signed by the government and blessed by the Church kind of commitment. I like it.

Still fighting some of the travel fatigue this afternoon (hey- give me a break; I’m not 20 anymore!), my uncle stopped by my office and gave me the search terms for a YouTube video he wanted me to see. It was the perfect full-circle moment to my weekend adventure. The video is a production of a speech made under these circumstances:

Dan is up to his creative tricks again. This time you are invited to create something (painting, song, dance, poem, etc.), submit to him, and be part of his M O S A I C project. Tell your friends!

This picture is mostly unrelated, but, you know, sometimes a person just needs a good dose of cute. : ) Happy Weekend!

I am a dancer. I believe that we learn by practice.  Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living…. In each it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one’s being, a satisfaction of spirit.  One becomes in some area an athlete of God.  ~Martha Graham, c.1953

Saturday we celebrated our beloved Dance Recital. I have told the girls’ teachers before that we really don’t care about the quality of the program – as parents, we just want to see our kid get a few minutes on the stage in exchange for the many hours they’ve spent in the dance studio in the back hallway. We want to see them kick up their heels or sah-shay or whatever it is that they do.

But sometimes, even when our expectations are low, they take our breath away. We don’t know why because it usually isn’t the precision of their movements or the grace with which they turn. It is mostly that they are there trying and to us it is beautiful.

Macy was part of her first recital this year. To see her tiny eyes glued to her teachers and then see her legs and arms straining to match them pose for pose was priceless. So much effort from her produced pure joy in me.

Ada seems to be growing inches every week and, no exagerration, just last week she knocked her feet out from under herself from a still and upright position. I have never laughed harder at a crying child. And yet on that stage she has some kind of magic. Clumsiness disappears. Sometimes when I look at that girl I feel like I’m watching the beginning of something so special I don’t have words to describe it.

Claire. I don’t need to say much more if you are a regular here. Claire is our miracle girl – a preemie with a very uncertain future. She surprises us everyday. But our hearts also break because of the physical limitations of her body. Just months ago she had surgery to lengthen the muscles and tendons on her left leg. Her left arm is uncooperative and stiff. But Claire loves to dance. She had one move, an arabesque I think, that she was quite proud of. I noticed her smile when she got it right. The rest of the time you could tell her mind knew just what to do even though her body wasn’t obeying.

But she never looked frustrated. She smiled and jumped a little faster to catch up or flipped her head as if to say, ah, maybe I’ll get that one next time. And we cried because she is so brave. So much braver than we are.

These are lessons I learn while I watch them learning to dance.

You know how you read things once in awhile and get this feeling that it is more important to your life, maybe to your soul, than even you can put into words?

Well, that happened to me once when I was reading a feature story in Radiant magazine about a young woman who worked in India. She helped start a company there called Sari Bari that provides employment for women who want to escape the prostitution business (or sex slavery). The employees at Sari Bari learn an artisanal trade by recycling old saris into bags, scarves, blankets, and other accessories and selling them. I was moved by the story because it seemed like such a simple, relational model for changing the world. Sure, one little corner maybe, but change just the same.

You can read more about Sari Bari on their website. I bought a bag from them this winter as a gift and it arrived quickly and in perfect condition. This is the description of their mission from their homepage:

Sari Bari is a business. Our mission is to offer freedom to women who are trapped in the sex trade and to provide opportunity to women who are vulnerable to trafficking. We do this by providing employment in a safe, loving environment, where women are trained as artisans. The women create beautiful, sustainable, handmade products, while making their lives new. We invite you to journey into the freedom story of one woman with your purchase.

When I first read about the young woman who had moved to India to be part of this kind of community, it opened my eyes and my heart to the way one person can make a difference in a beautiful way. Of course we know that her story also included homesickness and discomfort and culture shock and sacrifice, but those are all part of beautiful stories.

That article felt important to my soul because I knew there was something like that in me – a beautiful, useful contribution to the world. And there’s something like that in you. Until we know exactly what it is for ourselves, let’s take the opportunity to celebrate and support those who do know and have acted. Big social justice issues like human trafficking and slavery can kind of get lost in the big corporation blob for me; a small group such as Sari Bari gives me a place to connect in a more relational and personal way.

This week Sari Bari is hosting an auction for two exquisite bed coverings. If you are interested, have a look here. Or click over to their website and buy something beautiful for someone special (or at least read some of the inspiring freedom stories). Maybe something in this beautiful story will inspire beautiful you!

UPDATE 5/15: The auction is closed. Sari Bari raised $900 toward their computers and other office needs!

I think this is pretty good advice most of the time. I don’t always follow it, but I would usually be in better shape if I did.

I’ve got this test coming up but I don’t know where to start. Just do something. Re-read a chapter. Review a quiz. Something.

Look at this laundry room: overwhelming! Just do something. Pick one basket to fold. Sort into piles. Something.

I’d love to create a water garden out here but it would be so expensive. Just do something! Clear a path. Plant a hosta. Something.

You see where I’m going with this?

A couple of weeks ago Dan hosted a songwriting challenge, remember? And we wrote songs together almost every night. One of the nights Jesse wrote the song and on the last night Dan wrote one mostly alone because I fell asleep in the chair, but otherwise I was there. : ) We did something. And we learned that there was stuff to be created. It was there all along just waiting for us to find it, dive for it, bring it to the surface.

Today as a close to my speech class we watched the movie Amazing Grace – the story of William Wilberforce’s fight to end the slave trade in England. Not sure how I’ve missed this movie; perhaps it was God’s doing since I likely would have driven myself mad by now trying to discover my own great cause to champion!

For some reason watching it today made me a little blue. In the movie there is so much evidence for the power of bringing attention to a problem and seeing something change. I see so many things, though, in this mucky world of ours that I’d like to change and I get overwelmed at the options. So much to do, so little Felicity to go around! I have, in fact, one cause that I mull around often. I’ve toyed with it as the backdrop of a novel. I’ve also wondered if it should be a non-fiction piece instead, and the dilemma just serves to paralyze me.

But today I took action. On the short drive to pick up the girls after school I imagined what would happen if the heroine of my novel met the real-life person I’ve considered for the non-fiction piece. I introduced them to one another as they took their seats on an international flight and guess what? They had things to talk about. They had a conversation that I had to write down: the first concrete piece of writing I’ve done on this novel I’ve been writing in my head for over a year.

Who knows if any of it will stick. I may hate it in the morning. But it is done. Something was created. And I’m going to bed quite proud of myself.

What something will you do today? It doesn’t have to be big or life-altering to satisfy. Just do something.