I have been totally consumed by the camping world this week. We are heading into the final push for the Charity Trailer Raffle, I was on the news, and I drove the camper into the mall and set it up for display. It’s clean and shiny and I’ve spent the last two days “camped out” in the mall, answering questions, showing it off, talking about Girl Campers and the HoldYou Foundation, and meeting tons of people. I was amazed I only saw two people at the mall that I actually know. Mr. FixIt, however, is a different story. He knows everyone, everywhere! He is a gregarious man.
When I was browsing Pinterest yesterday for inspiration, I stumbled upon an artist who caught my eye. Robert W. LaDuke paints in a mid-century modern, semi Art Deco style that not only intrigues me, but stirs something in me. Maybe it’s the fact that this ‘50s chick came from that mid-century modern era. His art gives off a sort of “Girl Camper meets Roger Rabbit” kinda vibe and I love it. He does a painting of a blue pickup truck I am particularly enamored with. I just had to share these campers he painted.
Becoming immersed in something, in and of itself, isn’t a real problem…unless you get carried away with it. I’ve been known in the past to get into something and work it hard till I totally burn out. As I have aged, one of the things that has changed for the better is my ability to set something aside and take a break when I need to. Hence, tomorrow we are heading out with family to do something fun that was part of our Christmas present.
Taking a break from things is always a good idea. Even when you are grieving, there are ways to give yourself tiny spaces away from the intensity. When Mr. Virgo died, my daughters were staying with me in the days leading up to the funeral, and we took a trip to Target. We went to the electronics section and bought an armload of funny movies on DVD. While I don’t remember which ones we watched, I do remember clearly sitting on the sofa in our living room with my two loves…laughing. It was therapeutic and cathartic and so necessary.
As time passed, there were more opportunities for mirth…and there were sometimes fleeting feelings of guilt that accompanied them. I’d feel guilty for laughing and having fun when I was supposed to be overcome by grief. Then I learned that wasn’t true. There isn’t a rule book that says this is normal and that is not. You feel what you feel and it is human to feel joy…sometimes at the same time you feel deep pain. Grief is a confusing, crazy, deep place full of conflicting emotions…and it’s all ok.
There came a time when I had to stop immersing myself in the pain part of grief and move into the flow of life. Grief became the undercurrent for a period of time, then it became the ripples in the pond. And now, it is almost always the reflection of a beautiful sunset on the still, calm water my life has become.
I don’t know why…I can’t quite articulate it…but Robert LaDuke’s art distills that whole process in my memory when I see his campers. There is a slight darkness that hangs over the paintings…as if you are looking through the haze of a faded memory. Whatever it is…they speak to me and I don’t always find that feeling in art. One may find it a bit sill to get that kind of reaction from paintings of campers, but it is very much appreciated when art makes me feel something.
❤️
“He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer.”
Exodus 35:35 ESV