When we were kids, my mom fostered our creativity in a number of ways. (My dad did too, but this is not about him. That’s another story.) She read to us and encouraged us to read, draw, make things and make believe. My mom’s friends were teachers, craftswomen, artists, and homemakers, in other words, creators.
Our dear family friend Bev also supported our creative ways. On what was maybe my six birthday Bev gave me a homemade present she put together. It was a dark green cardboard box full of art supplies: pens, crayons, water colors, little scissors, glue and paper in various primary and pastel colors. On the lid of the box, she’d written in big, bold letters, “Wendy’s Busy Box.” (I know that are a lot of jokes to be made here.) I spent hours drawing, painting, cutting and gluing. Her gift licensed me to create.
I was a shy kid who, by today’s standards, might have been diagnosed with social anxiety and even depression. I have used my journals up to this day to process the social landscape around me. I also learned as a child that making pictures and telling stories by oneself can feel lonely. Sometimes it’s more fun to go outside and play, which is what of course my mom also encouraged us to do.
“Wendy’s Busy Box” could possibly be a metaphor for how I’ve been able to live my life. All my life I’ve had the freedom and the privilege to create. It’s been there for me and I have recognized and sometimes realized its power. However, much of the time, I’ve put that creativity into a box. For example, I thought I had to be a this or that, a writer, or an academic, or a teacher, or an activist, an either or an or.
But I’ve been given a lifetime license to create in whatever form I wanted to. For so long, I was too dumb and blind to recognize this fact. Even now there are times when I don’t take advantage of the freedom I have to create what I need. If we get in the habit of creating what we need, perhaps we will start creating what the world needs. We are not all that different from each other, after all.
Wendy Lea Writing 