The sun was rising in its long-slanted brilliance over the Pacific. I sat on a bench on a bluff high overlooking the gentle waves, watching surfers bob. Sea lions barked in the distance from their beds of metal beams beneath the long jetty. (I had to go find them later.)
It was the perfect time to sit and ponder the events of the day before, and muse upon the ebb and flow of time.
Being stuck in California for a weekend in early April is no hardship, especially when I had a car (a rare occurrence for me on business trips) and friends to visit. First up was Jenny, a young mom who I had befriended some years ago through a blogging site we both used. I had a chance to visit her and her delightful family for a morning, which involved chalking with her young sons.
Then, as fortune would have it, an old mentor of mine just happened to live ten minutes from Jenny. I had stayed in touch with Foster ever since the summer in college I worked with him in the Philippines, but this was the first time I had seen him since then.
At ninety-five, Foster is a frail, bowed version of the energetic man I knew, but his mind is still sharp and his gentleness and kindness very evident in the way he listened to me and offered his wisdom. Fos was the first one to put in my head the idea of using art to connect to an audience. He had forgotten that he had plunked me down in a busy outdoor market in Manila with a sketchpad and pencil. It’s as clear in my memory as if it had happened yesterday – my nervousness, the press of the people against me in order to see, the laughter and the chatter in a language I didn’t understand. It didn’t go particularly well that day, but an idea was planted in my mind.
In a way, each generation is like a wave. We swell. We crest. We make our splash and recede. But the very act of receding feeds the next wave. I think about that in this area of encouraging creativity. Fos did that for me. I hope to do that for Jenny, for McKenzie, the young artist at the church where I scribed the next morning, and for others as I have opportunity.
Including you. You take the time to read this blog and I sincerely appreciate it. I think about you every time I write: that my thoughts could be the wave that feeds your imagination, whether you just ride it for the few moments you read this, or if you let it feed own creative expression.
That’s why I post.: so we can make some waves.
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