Of eggs and small actions and big days

IMG_20160430_064524

IMG_20160430_064629

IMG_20160430_064723

IMG_20160430_064838

IMG_20160430_064930

IMG_20160430_063559

IMG_20160430_070907

IMG_20160430_070008

13179417_10206463331202338_1945481177850156475_n

ltym big

One of my most precious eggs is rolling away.

That is OK. It is right. It is the fitting culmination (and simultaneous beginning, of course) of a huge creative endeavor.

It is amazing to me, how every finished creative work is the accumulation of so many, many small actions. Many of those actions are tedious–adding layer over layer of color, driving the car to a school, making dinner, putting a comma in and taking it out and putting it back in again. Cutting out a hundred tiny leaves.

And yet, there is a certain joy in them. There must be, or we wouldn’t persevere.

Tonight I join with a cast of amazing, talented women on a stage. There will be joy in the culmination, the celebration, the finished product. But no small part of it will be because–not in spite of–all the small actions each of us has taken to live and craft and share the stories we’ll be telling.

This truth, and my ability to live by it, is an egg I can keep within the walls of any shelter I might find or make.

11 thoughts on “Of eggs and small actions and big days

  1. Marian says:

    I absolutely love this post, Rita — on all levels. I love seeing the progression of photos with the addition of each colour. I love how the sentence about the eggs rolling away is both literal and figurative, how the eggs ARE literally your children (I did NOT see that coming!). I love how small actions can also be seen as eggs — germs of ideas that build and build. This is just SO beautiful!

    You may not recall this, but I once told you I had a soft spot for serendipitous coincidences (it was in our discussion following my heart-of-eggs post — the fact that it warmed my heart that the heart-shaped “egging” of our lawn appeared, coincidentally, on our 25th anniversary) — Well, at the risk of sounding totally wacky woo, I have to tell you that I am from ALBERTA, and one of my very favourite flowers is its provincial emblem – the Alberta wild ROSE … in other words, I can’t be in the audience tonight, but I will definitely be there in spirit — Break a leg, friend 🙂 .
    Marian recently posted…On Clothing and SewingMy Profile

    • Rita says:

      I love serendipity, too–and I wish you could have been there! I think you would have loved all the stories.

  2. Lisa says:

    I love this post. When I saw the title my first thought was of the egg rolling away quote from earlier posts. Glad she has made a happy choice, sad it puts her 3000 miles away from you. Is your other egg staying close or rolling far as well?
    Lisa recently posted…the pink living room, in progressMy Profile

  3. Kari says:

    These eggs we keep in our nests, they are so hard to let go of.
    Yet they need to go.
    I wish I could have been there last night.
    I hate that we live on opposite sides of the country.
    Maybe once your egg rolls on out of the nest, you should roll on through Chicago and we can get really drunk to commiserate.
    I am really good at hugs.
    Kari recently posted…Titles Don’t Come Easy You KnowMy Profile

    • Rita says:

      Oh, I know you would have loved the stories. They were so good! And I would love to visit Chicago. I’ve never been there. Grace was there last summer, but I didn’t get to go. 🙁 If I’d known you were there, I might’ve tried harder to make it happen.

      Dang, a hug sounds good right about now.

  4. Kate says:

    I’m so glad you used the eggs line!! It was my favorite and how perfect!! Congratulations to your daughter (and you)!! What an exciting time for her (and you)!! Sending hugs!! Your posts always remind me to be grateful for my eggs that aren’t rolling away (yet). Abram told me yesterday at bedtime that he wants to live with me forever and not go out in “the whole wild world” Not wide, wild. I know they won’t always feel this way, but I’m glad they do now. Happy Mother’s Day! Can’t wait to hear about LTYM.
    Kate recently posted…RenewalMy Profile

    • Rita says:

      Happy Mother’s Day to you, too! I miss my kids saying things like that. When Grace was going into kindergarten, her big sister was getting ready to go off to college, and Grace was having a terrible time because she projected ahead and realized kindergarten was the first step to college and college meant leaving home. I remember telling her that it was such a long, long time away and that she’d probably want to live somewhere else by then. I can’t believe how quickly that long, long time passed. I can’t express how odd it feels, what a strange time I’m having with time these days.

Leave a Reply to Marian Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.