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My Great Experiment

Image ~ ~ Bri Sperry-Renfrew ~ 10 Comments

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”  Henry David Thoreau

“Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.”  – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Escape a false sense of community. Reconnect with my inner instincts and aspirations. Use my gifts. Stop wasting time. Make more time for face-to-face relationships and “old-fashioned” correspondence (think e-mail). These are some of the reasons which prompted me to give up Facebook for an indefinite amount of time (a year?).  Commence eye-rolling if you must. I know it might seem selfish. It might be an inconvenience for some. It might not make sense.

I don’t know if my experiment will bring me the things I seek, but so far I have maintained my reading goals (see my new “Reading Log” page for what I’m currently reading), face-timed for two hours with a friend I hadn’t talked to in nearly 20 years, and written in my journal almost every day.  I have had lunch dates with friends and family members and appreciated the interaction in ways I had come to take for granted.

When I recently messaged another dear friend  and mentioned that I had spent my morning reading, writing and thinking about future blog topics, she celebrated the “fog clearing” for me. She has agonized with me through this past year’s turbulence.  She has shared my sorrow and bewilderment over how I lost any desire to read or write – two of the treasured mainstays of most of my life.  And with her perceptive observation of the “fog clearing” she has assured me that there is hope that my experiment might truly turn out to be great.

The Birthday Game

~ Bri Sperry-Renfrew ~ 2 Comments

For a time, a friend of mine was doing a “birthday game” on Facebook, where he used a famous person’s photo as his profile picture.  It was fun trying to guess the identity of the personality who was celebrating a birthday on the given day.  My friend ended the game on his own birthday.  I didn’t think much more about it until yesterday when Rolling Stone noted that it was Paul Simon’s birthday.  I was inspired to reinstate the birthday game, though I don’t know how long I’ll last.  I’m already struggling with the discipline of researching the birthdays.  I did look up the birthdays for this week, and found a few that struck a chord with me:

October 9 – Jackson Browne – Singer/Songwriter/Activist.   Infamous for alleged drama with Darryl Hannah.  I like him best for the songs he’s written for himself and others like the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt.  He penned one of my favorite lyrics in his song Doctor My Eyes: “Is this the prize for having learned how not to cry?”

October 10 – Tanya Tucker – Country Music Artist.  She had her first hit at age 13.  I sang that hit, Delta Dawn, as a junior in my high school’s Grand Ole Opry Revue.  I wore some tight western style polyester slacks, a fringed shirt and cowboy boots.  As horrid as it sounds, let’s just say I probably did better channeling her appearance than her voice.

October 11 – Joan Cusack – Actress. I’m no movie buff.  My sentimental connections to movies usually occur through experiences with my kids, and this is no exception.  My kids and I love Joan in School of Rock, especially the scene where she lip syncs/sings Stevie Nicks’ Edge of Seventeen.

October 12 – Edward VI – King of England and Ireland (1547-1553).  I love history and biographies.  One of my favorite books is The Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser.  It, of course, gives the low-down on Edward’s daddy.  The book is over 450 pages and I read it twice.  Does that make me some kind of nerd?

October 13 – Paul Simon – Singer/Songwriter. I must have been in the 8th grade when I got his Greatest Hits on 8-track.  My favorites: Slip Slidin’ Away, Still Crazy After All These Years, Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, Mother and Child Reunion, Loves Me Like a Rock, and the song that taught me about photography…Kodachrome.

October 14 – Roger Moore – Actor.  My favorite James Bond.  That blind date I blogged about last week took me to see Octopussy, which featured Moore.   I was more impressed with Rita Coolidge singing All Time High.  It would take the true love of my life, my husband, to help me appreciate Roger Moore and James Bond.

October 15 – Mother-In-Law – She turns 80 tomorrow, and after retiring more times than can I  count, recently accepted another position teaching college nursing courses.  She has endured much in her life, including the suicide of her first husband, my husband’s father.  I have learned many things from this amazing woman, but perhaps one of the most valuable is the Bible verse she used to have tacked to her bedroom wall: “I will restore  the years that the locust hath eaten.” (Joel 2:25)

You found your pizza where?

~ Bri Sperry-Renfrew ~ 6 Comments

– “I was wondering why my car reeked…definitely didn’t notice my leftover pizza had fallen out of my lunch sack.”

– “I’ll pray this music keeps me awake on my way to school.”

– “Every time I drive through a yellow light I tap the roof of my car.”

Just a sampling of my daughter’s Facebook statuses.  She’s in college 1,100 miles away, a safe distance for keeping me from freaking on her for giving me heart palpitations.   Yes, I know she could be posting things far more alarming, and I’m truly thankful that most of her posts reflect what a determined, capable, thoughtful young woman she is becoming.  I’m not so sure my mom would have been able to say the same about me at the same age.

My college days predated cell phones, laptops and the internet (NOT electricity – contrary to what my kids think.)  Otherwise, my mom might have read things like…

– “Just drove across the entire state of Kansas BY MYSELF.”

– “Ran out of gas on mountain road to Kittredge, CO.  Walking to lighted house.”

– “Note to self: no more blind dates with friends of brother’s brother-in-law.”

– “Listened to roomie’s new record (U2?)  Think I’ll stick with Lionel Richie.”

All of which would have betrayed my 18-year-old ignorance.  Then again, the betrayal of ignorance is the most necessary of sign posts on these wild, amazing journeys.  Even the solo ones down mountain roads and across vast deserted prairie highways…and I suppose, even through yellow lights when you’re barely awake.