Life in Mosaic

Laughing Water and Mr. Blueberry Eyes love mosaic art. I first noticed it when Laughing Water was four years old and in a group music class. She was given a coloring assignment and insisted on taking her time creating patches of color in a space that everyone else would have used only one color.

A few years later, I chanced upon some mosaic coloring books in a toy store. Over time, I purchased all of them. I knew they would be gobbled up, so I made copies of them. It didn't take Mr. Blueberry Eyes long at all to catch the spirit. It is fun to watch the careful planning and detail work each of them puts into a page.

Our life is a mosaic. Our family can't seem to do anything the normal way. Each person is complex and delightful. Mr. Blueberry Eyes, for example, is a daring wild child, hence the frightening picture I took a while back of him in this tree. (The hight is NOT distorted by the camera.) But he is so tenderhearted, he will sob hysterically in a mildly sad movie.

Laughing Water is gregarious one minute and shy the next. She can be spotted in a gazzillion different "looks" around the house. Once day she'll look like a nun and the next day she is a medieval princess. I can't quite place the era in this picture!

But then, I guess the children are not completely unlike their parents. I received a call from a pollster the other day. By the time she hung up, I think she regretted dialing my number. It went something like this: "Do you consider yourself a Republican, Democrat, or Independent?"

"Uuummm. Well, I usually vote Republican, but I really like our governor and he's a Democrat and I am really conservative, but I'm frustrated with conservatives for not paying more attention to our environment. I guess maybe I'm and Independent."

"Do you consider yourself an environmentalist?"

"Oh, no! I like to make fun of environmentalists! But I'm really into organic gardening. And I'm a vegetarian! Oh, dear. Maybe I AM and environmentalist!

And so the interview went until the polster was giggling so hard she could hardly go on!

Are we tortured individuals? Oh yeah! But boy, do we have fun! So here's to all of you mosaic peeps out there! Be yourself, however many colors that is! -Nanette