May is a beautiful month. It holds hyacinth breezes, satisfying rains, and clean closets that all send me cascading through moments of progressive reflection. It was in May that I was born. In May, I learned to ride a bike. In May, I was hired for a new job. In May, I composed my first piece of music. All my life, May happens as a month of peaceful thought, reflection, and plan-making. May I steward the beauty.
What Was I Thinking?
Tonight showcased some absolutely beautiful spirits at Pie, Piano, and Poetry–Minneapolis Chapter (pan). I drove up to the city after a long 4/20 day at school and a longer night previous filling out paperwork. Tired was not an adequate description to my state upon parking my car. But after some laughter, hugs, coconut cream, key lime, quotidian icons, emotional presence, homemade butterflies, fresh songs, fresh tries, and heart to heart discussion-confession, I drove home with lots of popping in my mind.
I can’t remember all the thoughts I had, but here are a few:
You gave my songs life again.
Privacy is special.
Satisfaction is enough.
Waiting to speak brings soft words. Marinate in silence.
I want your songs to have life again.
I want you to have life.
How shall we stop-animate?
Porches. Porches. Porches.
Mandolins. Guitars. Dueling keyboards.
Tambourine.
Don’t be frustrated with yourself. Accept yourself. Accept your work. Accept your heart. Accept your creative voice. Listen.
Be gentle. Be gentile. Be honest.
No rush.
Important Dates (The Next Ten Weeks in the Last Ten Minutes)
As I’ve grown “older,” I’ve realized that a week is really not the best way to assess time spent. Being a teacher makes me work within the school week and keep track of progress by making daily tick marks in grade books and attendance logs and lesson planners. But the rest of my life takes so much more time than Monday-Friday. It may as well not be on a calendar. Instead of weekly events, I have monoliths of projects and parties and pies all trying to pass through the space of my life. (What movie am I referencing?) If anything, events drag on in terms of months. It’s true that while still in March, I made plans for May and July and I’m not even talking about this year’s slog of summer weddings–about which, I’m ever so happy, of course.
With that said, I want to share some upcoming dates that I’m excited about:
1. April 20 is Pie, Piano, and Poetry at Danica’s House. Come and share your work!
2. April 24 is Easter!
2. April 26, I just may find myself listening to Celtic Woman live. (I only wish T could be there. I hope it works out.)
3. April 27, I’m taking a group of talented singers for their first Select Choir rehearsal.
4. April 28, I’ll be playing piano for a student singing Katy Perry’s “Firework” at a benefit for Japan; I’ll also be in a fashion show that night. (I can’t even say how excited I was when the student placed this on the piano and said, “I was thinking of this one.” I responded very calmly, but gave a generous dose of encouragement because inside I was already dancing.)
5. April 29-30 will find me at my first women’s conference ever, but only if our names get called off the waiting list. (It’s part of my couch-made agreement with my sister to be more involved in women’s ministry events even though they seem scary to us.)
6. May 2 is my first official JM Choir concert.
7. May 6 is my first Big 9 Contest event. (This is like solo-ensemble for those of you from Northern Minnesota. It’s a competition for the “Big 9” high schools in southern Minnesota. It’s a big deal and today I got a little nervous–not going to lie.)
8. May 13 is a worship team audition I have been waiting for since February.
9. May 19 is my birthday, so let’s be gearing up, folks.
10. May 25 is the final official JM Choir event of the year, not counting graduation.
You know what, I’m glad I don’t do everything on a weekly basis.
100 Posts in 2011: An Organization of Intake
Today is my 100th post in 2011. Already this year has had its challenges and its joys, and I’m sure there will soon be more of each. Already, I’m feeling more engaged in my life and my thought processes just by keeping Naphtalia up to date. Here’s a little more detail about my categories and pages to help you understand how I’m organizing my intake of life:
Music: This is my truest self. Most of the music featured here is original, but as we saw in “Come On, Love” there are always going to be covers covering the bases.
Dovetails: A dove tail is a woodworking term used to describe the fitting of two pieces of wood together. One piece looks like a dove’s tail and the other piece looks like the cut out of a dove’s tail. This allows the pieces to lock into place. Dovetails is basically the idea of “two and two together.” I use this category when I have a moment of “why didn’t I think of this before?” or a really applicable quote for my present day self.
Fiction or Not: When I was in high school, we had a course called “Fiction/Non” and I always really liked that title. It made me feel like the teacher wanted to keep us guessing about which piece was fiction and which was non-fiction. I use this category when I’m writing a piece that includs fictionalized portions of myself, my friends, my imaginary characters and/or real life versions of those people. I like to group my fiction and non-fiction writing because I feel the two meld so much in real life anyway. There are many things that we imagine that end up true and many imaginations we have that may as well be true based on how firmly we act on them. Like the physical and spiritual, I often see fiction and non-fiction tugging on a very thin line.
Shots: These are mostly photos that I took myself in my various life moments and travels. I try to title them, but sometimes I don’t as exemplified in “my title #1” and “my title #2,” which really is a title itself when I think about it–I’m just keeping the story to myself because I can’t share absolutely every thought. I have to save some. If I didn’t take the picture, I always try to credit it if I know the source.
In my queue now are 15 drafts of poems, stop and start thoughts, confessions, and one short story about a girl named Mairian. I’ll be taking the next 9 days off from posting so that I can write, edit, delete, and re-create. Be watching for a new Naphtalia on April 1, 2011!
And now may the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you; may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm; may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you; may he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.
Love come to you, Naphtalia
The Year I Began With Rest
2011, I greet you with a deep breath, but before I speak to you another word, I must thank 2010 for five most beautiful musical moments, music being such a huge part of my heart and all, and then I must speak with my friends.
5. Thursday night singing with Paul, Carlie, Seth, Meggie, Margie, Dolores, Joe, Jean, Abbie, Sarah, Luke, Phil, Blake, and all the others at Rome Baptist. Thank you.
4. Giselle with Carlie and Laura. (Yes, I was gasping at the beauty.) Thank you.
3. My niece singing me “Happy Birthday” while putting flowers in my hair. Thank you.
2. Falling asleep to Norah Jones’ “The Nearness of You” on a boat in Ibiza, Spain with a few Italians and the smell of cigarettes and wine lingering on the docks. Thank you.
1. Singing to my sister the cleansing, tearful words “hard times come again no more.” Thank you.
Very honorable mention: Singing hymns spontaneously with Kayla. Thank you.
And now I will rest. For one week, I will gather my thoughts and straighten my plans. In the next week, I’m sure they will change.
In the meantime, my friends, please do look around the site a bit and share your thoughts with me and other friends. Do notice the new, handy and fun “search” feature. It is located at the bottom center of the front page. This is fun because you can actually type any word into it and see if Naphtalia has written that word in the past 120 posts. Do also notice the fun “tag” feature I am now employing. Also located at the bottom center of the front page. This will hopefully help to organize the thoughts contained within the site. Also, I want to be sure you know that clicking the “Naphtalia” banner at the top of the page will return you to the front page and clicking any red words in a post will take you to a reference link so that you can learn more about my line of thought and the subject at hand.
In other news, here are some things to watch for in 2011:
- events like Pie, Piano and Poetry parties in Minneapolis and shows in Fargo, ND (Can we say, “Celebration of Women and Their Music?”)
- He Leadeth Me score-writing project
- short stories like “Winter”
- songs about living in Minnesota (really, that’s a deep subject; I’ll try to explain more when the time comes)
- pie recipes
- maybe some other fun recipes
- “Dream A Little Dream” project updates (hm, what’s that?)
- poetry
- photos
- thoughts or ideas you have left in the comment box below
With all my heart, I offer my love and thanks.
Naphtalia
Naphtalia 