26. Create

a reaction to the election

I want to start by saying that this was on my list from the very beginning. And yesterday I was given a gift from the universe to have this reminder!

Election Day of 2016 was November 8th - my birthday. I was 7 months pregnant with our first child (a boy) and the day ended in disbelief and lots of tears. I cried for the world we were bringing our son into. Our country had said they were ok with a man who clearly didn’t care about women and I just feared for what the world would become. Fast forward to yesterday… the day after the presidential election of 2024. I woke up with a heavy heart from the news of the results. I was somehow both surprised and not. I was up early in the morning and my now 7 (almost 8) year old son came and curled up in my lap on the rocking chair. And tears began to roll down my face. How were we here again? What will this mean for my now 3 children? There was something so poignant about being in our rocking chair - where I had rocked when pregnant, where I had rocked baby 1, 2 and 3 when they were small. Each kiddo a reminder at the inherent goodness in our world and that joy comes in the morning.

So… that’s how the day started. Heavy. Sad. Reflective. Scared. Confused. Heartbroken. Gutted.

And yet the day had to go on. I had to get kids to school and go to a meeting for my kids school. This year I volunteered to be part of the art docent program at the school - oh because now kids don’t have art class in school, volunteers have to come in and make it happen because our government has prioritized things like math and science but not art … but I digress. So… I showed up at this meeting and learned we were all going to get to make the project first to get a feel of how the project goes so we can teach it to the kids. So, 15 or so of us parents sat and played with clay. We pounded the clay, warmed it up with our hands working it, rolled it and each created a little house. We were invited to play with texture and different materials and different ways to give the house character and dimension. I worked together with a woman who sat across from me at the table. We partnered to make a little teardrop trailer. We worked together to see what we liked and we chatted about kids and milestones and she gave me some ideas for my birthday.

Soon the discussion at the table turned to some sharing about how we were all doing in the wake of the news. We were not ok. Most of the parents in the room were women and it felt powerful to be with these women who were also feeling the same plethora of feelings I was feeling. And… I began to notice how creating this art piece was slowly bringing me out of the depths of my feels. The working with my hands. The creating something from our imaginations. The playing around with things and seeing what unfolds! I thought of how “create” was on my list of 40 things! I left that time with some new friends but also with a new outlook on the day. It doesn’t mean I wasn’t sad anymore, but somehow the act of creating and the connection while creating moved my heart to a different place. After my meeting my other friend had been at her art docent gathering and she sent me some pics of the art and said “I think doing art felt good for everyone”. I told her it was the same for us too. Creating… it helps!

Later last night I was excited to be going to a concert featuring one of my former youth! She is such an accomplished fiddle player and musician and my friend and I were headed to see her play. At first, I wondered if this was the “right” thing to be doing on this night. But, I also wasn’t going to miss her show. As I drove to my friends house to pick her up, a song came on the radio that I used to love just belting out in the car, "Blown Away" by Carrie Underwood. It’s a country pop song that depicts a story about a young woman who locks herself in a storm cellar while her abusive, alcoholic father is passed out on the couch in the path of a tornado. We got to the chorus and I began to just belt it out:

Shatter every window 'til it's all blown away
Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away
'Til there's nothing left standing
Nothing left of yesterday
Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away, blown away, blown away

There was something about this song that pulled at a rage within me - the rage of wanting to just burn the patriarchy down and wanting it all to just be different! And as I belted, I found myself crying! It was NOT a soft cry! haha! It was a release of anger, and emotion, and sadness all in one. It was a RAGE CRY! It was so good! So cleansing. Healing. I even sort of laughed at myself, not in judgment, but more in just an acknowledging of how that was clearly something my body had been holding in! Music and art help us tap into emotions we can’t always access. Thank God people create!

And then, my friend and I arrived at the concert. Music began to play and again I was reminded of the importance of art, music and the process of creating! I looked around and saw this room full of people I didn’t know and thought about how we were all going through this moment in our country, and yet we were all here for music and for friends. I thought about how music is the soundtrack to our lives. Songs can heal us. Songs can get us through. Songs can take us right back to a time. Creating helps us express. Creating helps us access feelings we are able to shove away in all our busyness.

I watched in awe of this young adult doing the thing that brings her joy - playing music. And I thought about how her doing the thing that brings her joy, then spreads joy to us! We need this! We need to create! And I think why I put “create” on the list is because I both know that I deeply love to create and I also know that I don’t make any time for creating art these days. I would love to find more times and ways to create art. I know I create a lot of other things - events, retreats and that kind of thing. But not art.

So…. this is a thank you to the people who create music and art for us to enjoy. This is a thank you for the places and people who make it possible for us to explore our creative selves. And it’s a thank you to the universe that lined up clay art making and a concert on the day after the election. It was just such a powerful reminder for me of the power that creating has in our life.

Songs:

• Blown Away by Carrie Underwood - In case you also want to tap into a good rage cry!

• Slim And The Devil by Willie Watson - One of the songs they played last night.

• Sami Braman - Check out Sami’s music! I am so proud of this young woman! I have been watching her play music since she was little! She and her band played at our wedding! And it is just a joy to watch her lean into music and just go for it! Sami - I love you and love cheering you on! You’re amazing! And shout out to her parents Kathryn and Tom (who I know read these blogs) for seeing the value of music and creativity and encouraging her and her friends to continue to create and just go for their dreams!

So folks… let us feel all the feels. And in the midst of it all, let us dance, sing, cry, hug, reach out to friends, and let us CREATE! We will get through this and we will get through this TOGETHER!

Here is a picture of me holding an art piece I did on our high school retreat a few weekends ago. We made trees that represent our faith stories - our roots, our values and the branches were the ways we live our values out it the world.