When John and I were carrying on our epistolary courtship across the Pacific (me in SoCal, he in Japan), back before the days of email (yes we are that old), we had often signed our notes with the phrase “Keep Climbin’.” Perhaps that’s odd, but it was our way of motivating each other to keep striving and working hard, to keep reaching our goals, etc. This was often interchanged with the Japanese phrase “Ganbatte!”
We don’t say either of those phrases to each other much anymore, but when I snapped this picture of my climbing rose yesterday, it reminded me of those days when I used to tell John to “keep climbin’.” This rose is a crazy climber–bursting up and out towards the sun. It’s a homely rose, but it thrives and blossoms more brilliantly than any of the others in my garden plot. I dug this plant up from a flowerbed elsewhere on campus where some gardeners kept whacking it down to the dirt and it just continued to keep sending up new green branches.
There’s a metaphor there somewhere, I suppose. 🙂
So here’s to roses that seem to thrive wherever they are planted…and who keep climbin’ towards that bright sun.
John & I were, at the last minute today, offered some tickets to an afternoon of art with the students at the Laguna College of Art + Design (we skipped out on an afternoon paddle to do so, but with no regrets!). It was incredibly inspiring to see the artists at work and to discuss their process. I was awfully tempted by a few items, until I remembered that I already have more art than I do wallspace. So I walked away empty-handed, but with a resolve to tackle my own life with more creativity & passion.
For some reason there was a moment at the art show where I remembered something a friend said to me awhile ago. She was lamenting that when she was young she was so insecure about her body that she never dared wear a bathing suit in public. After having given birth to several children, she was wishing that she’d been more bold when she actually had a body worth showing off. Her comment has stayed with me for numerous reasons. I was sad that she couldn’t go swimming with me because of her discomfort about wearing a swimsuit. I was sad to think of the times that my own inhibitions prevented me from having fun. And I was sad to think that someday I might look back on my current life and wish that I’d been more unafraid and adventurous…