Posts Tagged mother
Scrabble, community, and what I learned from my mother over Christmas
Posted by Bev Barnett in Creativity, Inspiring People on December 30, 2008
Greg and I just spent four great days with my mom and dad in Texas, about an hour outside of Austin. No schedule, very quiet … lots of time for napping, afternoon wine and Scrabble.
My mother is a Scrabble shark.
Over the past four or five years of visits to Texas I had never beaten my mother at Scrabble – until now. I finally realized that while I was growing up and she was teaching me to play nice, preparing me for a community-minded adulthood where I value creativity and pride myself on creating opportunities for others, what she was really doing was plotting her Scrabble domination strategy.
You see, I look at the Scrabble board and want to play a long word that will open up more opportunity for others to play. I look at those seven letters before me and I try to create something beautiful – the perfect word for the perfect spot on the board. While my mother – the artist - looks at how she can score 45 points with one letter.
This time, I finally got it. I chose not to care that the entire upper left section of the board was blank. I played the word WEIRD, capitalizing on mother's "FAKE," which included the high scoring "K." I found numerous other opportunities for those 'one letter takes all' kind of moves. Final score? Bev 301, Mom 265. Ha! Got her!
True to motherhood, she was very happy for me. And she didn't even point out that she was the one who suggested I play ANTSY, which racked up a whole bunch of points.
So what was the lesson learned? Community is wonderful. Creating opportunities for others is still the best way to conduct my life and engage that community. But maybe, just maybe, there are times when I need to make sure I really understand the rules of the game and use them to my advantage. And the experts at the game might even notice my community-mindedness and offer to help me out with the tough spots, even when I get antsy about it.
Thanks mom.
Happy birthday mom – there’s nothing better to be thankful for
Posted by Bev Barnett in Creativity, Inspiring People, Teenagers on November 27, 2008
My mom's birthday often falls on or around Thanksgiving. Today, Thanksgiving 2008, is an "on" birthday. So I'm going to get a little mushy here, be forewarned. Today, I am most thankful for my mother.
I've been thinking a lot about the mother daughter thing lately. My own daughter is 17 and in the midst of applying to colleges, which means I have less than a year to enjoy her then she'll be gone. My step daughter will be 18 in four months and is working very hard to be independent, which means we have even less time with her. Mother and daugther relationships are tricky business indeed.
My own relationship with my mother has developed as I suppose most do over the years. I've grown to appreciate so many wonderful qualities and insights that she has, things that I was not able to see when I was younger and she was annoyed by the greasy cold water left standing in dirty bowls in the sink (and yes, now I complain about that to my own kids).
My mother is an artist – a wonderfully sensitive and creative artist. Her works in watercolor and hand made paper now adorn my walls and I think of her every day as I enjoy them. Even though I never call to tell her that. Although I didn't realize it while I was growing up, I know now that she's had a tremendous impact on the way I view the world. Seeing through the eyes of an artist means everything is possible, everything has beauty and everything can be shaped into something new.
One of the most touching and loving things my mother has ever done for me was to send me a note in the mail after a phone conversation we had, which told me she understood one of the most difficult decisions I've ever had to make. With the soft image of hyacinths, she wrote this Persian proverb:
If you of all your goods are suddenly bereft,
and of your worldly store two loaves alone to thee are left,
sell one and with the dole
buy hyacinths to soothe your soul
I love you mother. Happy Thanksgiving, and happy birthday.
The Blender Brain
Welcome to Bev's Blender Brain, the Web home of singer, songwriter and technology communications consultant Bev Barnett. Left and right brain thinking blend as I explore changes in technology and how we communicate - as well as presenting ideas and tips for how creative individuals can break through the stigma and fear of marketing to embrace the practice of finding, nurturing and building an audience. The answers aren't always black or white.
