Saturday, March 28, 2009

A project: part 1

It's another rainy Saturday, and I've been thinking on a writing project.
I'm going to give some character sketches a shot. I haven't done these before, and it doesn't always come easily to me, the pegging of personality and character.

But the lyric of one of the kids' songs caught my attention this morning:

"You can understand that beauty is nothing without truth..."

And so I will strive for some truth this day...

Giving myself a soft-pitch start, I will try the kids first.

Today my inspiration is Jadyn.
The happy child. The good-times girl.
The one that lives life wide-open, in all its pleasure.
Jadyn lives large. As an infant, she was delighted to roll around on the floor, laughing, laughing, always laughing. Looking for what fun could be had.
Mischief walks at her side.
Not with malicious intent, only with an eye toward something that holds interest.
A fun feeling, as in, it might feel funny to pour sand down my pants.
And doesn't it?
Jadyn does what our inner child often wants to: she hangs over the fence and spits in the neighbor's yard. She squirts lotion because it smell so nice and feels so soft, and more could only be better.
She holds an honesty that I hope will not disappear. We have an understanding - she may be into mischief, and I may catch her, but she will run with delight and enjoy the chase. Devil may care.
She grins. She takes the consequence grinning and running and letting us know that the action was worth any consequence. And that is our understanding, our mutual line in the sand: if she is caught she will stop. If she goes unseen? Game on. The Phantom strikes again.

She laughs. That deep carefree laugh that causes anyone near to laugh too - because it is pure joy, unbridled and loud.
My happy girl, never somber, never concerned with propriety. Assuring me that she likes them that way, when her panties are inside out, backwards and twisted. She simply doesn't care about a detail like that, and tells me so. Not rebellious, not snotty, just a statement of fact. I love them that way, Mom.
Which could possibly sum up her worldview: I love it that way. Though it may mean mild discomfort, joy or pain, the inevitable trials of living large don't stop her. They are fleeting.

But that smile, oh that smile that blossoms into the laugh - that is forever.

2 comments:

  1. Bethany,

    This is so sweet. I read it last night. Were you blogging already when I learned about the making the blog into the book thing?
    ....I am thinking this might be in our future...
    Like, after the blog is a year old, retire it, make it into a book...hmm...
    There are a couple posts I might delete (of my own), but maybe not. :)
    This is a keeper.

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  2. Yes - I remember the blog-book topic, and that would be a great memory book for the kids :) With a few deletions on my part too... but I don't know if I could retire the site? Would you really?

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Put it right here, babe!