Maris:  it means “of the sea” in Latin.  She has been to the beach every year of her life since she was eight months old.  My little one loves the water and is truly a water baby.  Her eyes are as dark as the bottom of the ocean and her hair curls like the waves of the tides.  I cannot recall a time when I have not had to drag her out of the water.  At about one and a half she let the gentle current rock her to sleep on a shaded baby float I was holding.  Despite her visible exhaustion she has refused to leave.  Once when she was two I saw the cabana boys taking up the umbrellas and chairs and I told her the beach was closing.  They were actually removing everything so the sea turtles could come out to nest.  I explained we shared the ocean with them as well as a host of other creatures.  Since then it has been a tiny bit easier.  When she was three we got her shark arm floaties and I will never forget when she said, “Bye Bye Mama”, turned away from me, and was wildly far off before I could practically blink!  Burk told me to be careful of the undertow and I freaked out!  I had absolutely no idea, given I had grown up in a landlocked city and did not have the privilege of traveling a lot before marriage.  This past year I remember her telling me she needed to use the facilities and, I confess, I told her she could just tinkle in the water.  Horrified, she said, “Mama, I do not want to hurt any of the animals in the sea!” and to this day I feel guilty.  The Canadian marine wildlife conservation activist Paul Watson has been quoted as saying:

“I have been honoured to serve the whales, dolphins, seals – and all the other creatures on this Earth.  Their beauty, intelligence, strength, and spirit have inspired me.”

Now we have a little mermaid who truly believes she is able to swim and she is fearless.  We know it is past time for her to really swim independently; it is a lifelong, lifesaving skill.  And so she was beyond excited for her first day of swim class at an indoor swim school.  Her smile never left her beaming face and she kept making little squeals of delight.  She really did look and sound like a little dolphin.  So far she has mastered two skills in her Dolphin 1 class.  Her father and I hope that by Christmas she will be able to not only save herself and float, but eventually … swim like a dolphin.

My little one and I have been watching “Mulan” lately.  I think it is the last Disney movie I got to see with both of my parents before my father passed.  I have always loved it, but now that I have a girl of my own I have a greater appreciation for it all — the story, the history, the humor, and the lessons behind it.  I love so many Disney classics, but this is one of those I can watch over and over which, to me, proves its mettle.  Starting with the emphasis on Mulan’s appearance in the beginning of the movie, I have noticed how many times people have been kind enough to remark upon my little one’s looks.  Yesterday it even happened remotely by a teller in a bank who was in another state and simply saw her on the screen.  I remember experiencing the same compliments as a kid, but as I got older my father would say, “Thank you; she just won her school Spelling Bee!”  Since my girl is too little for me to point out many academic achievements yet, after she thanks them I always chase that with “and she’s up for her first black belt in martial arts!”  The looks of surprise on male and female faces alike make me realize society has progressed but not nearly far enough.  If she were a boy they would not even bat an eyelash.  Plenty of people have truly not believed it until I have shown them the videos on my phone of her breaking boards with either her foot or her elbow.  At least I feel she is doing a small part in giving people pause from saying girls are just pretty and only boys are strong.  In our small entryway is a large, cobalt vase filled with orange (I cringe to admit this) artificial blossoms.  They look great all year round and the cats don’t eat them.  Anyway, I was going out the door when I glanced over and saw this pictured above hanging perfectly suspended from the flowers.  Silently congratulating my little one for recognizing the shoots were Asian, I wondered what on earth Mulan was doing there.  And then I decided to leave her as a reminder that being underestimated can be an asset.  My favorite quote from the film:

“The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.”

American writer Ray Bradbury once said, “Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall.”  My little one, as you can see, was red-faced and happy after bouncing up and down on a trampoline at her friend’s birthday party.  At first she was afraid.  She could not even climb on it by herself.  When she finally did decide to get on, her feet did not leave the rubber.  But then, slowly but surely, there was a tiny bit of space between her toes and the trampoline.  After a little while longer she was gleefully jumping; increasingly without as much caution.  I confess as a kid I was scared and always worried about getting stuck in the coils.  I want her to be careful but not afraid to try new things.  So much of life is about taking a leap of faith and I think when we stop doing that we stop living.  I have no desire to skydive but I would like to try and paint more.  I may not be the best but it is out of my comfort zone and I have learned from trying it.  I want to continue to push myself to explore new things and I encourage anyone reading this to do the same:  jump, and unfold your wings.

Awhile ago I found this lamp and fell in love with it.  I am drawn to anything natural and especially like anything reclaimed.  It is one of a kind made straight from a naturally fallen tree, and I just adore it.  We always needed something like a floor lamp in that spot in our den and when I came upon this I knew it was perfect for us.  Our bed is made from naturally fallen cedar logs and it was actually mine before we married.  Then we have an end table and a stump stool made from reclaimed teak tree roots.  When we were first married I found a solid chair carved from a dead tree but they wanted something exorbitant for it … like $2,500!  About a month later I took my husband to a tribal festival in Oklahoma and I found almost the EXACT same chair … for around $200!  I was astounded and ecstatic and to date it remains my greatest coup.  I love to read and I have used that chair, the lamp and my bed all for the purpose of a comfortable escape.  American novelist Elizabeth Hardwick once said:

“The greatest gift is a passion for reading.  It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind.  It is a moral illumination.”

My quest continues to find unique things that are natural and reclaimed as well as great books to get lost in … for illumination.

I never realized how superficial Dallas was before I was able to start traveling.  She is vain to the nth degree, has always carried delusions of grandeur, harbors no love for history, values only that which is shiny and new, and is very much a superficial town.  Having said that, she is still home.  Now I just know all her flaws, whereas before I only suspected them.  The snobbery continues right down to the help, sort of like a butler in Victorian England.  I had so many invisible markers growing up that I thought if I’d hit I would be part of being accepted:  when I graduated from SMU, when I got my Rolex, when I bought a Land Rover.  My daddy taught me never to hate or envy; simply to aspire.  And so I never resented anyone who had money; I just wanted to have it, too.  He also taught me a valuable lesson:  there will always be someone younger, prettier, smarter, or “better” than you somehow.  That was not meant to run me down, rather it was meant to show me the futility in striving to please others.  It is truly ironic I wound up marrying into a wealthy family.  The name is fading but old timers still know it.  In college I was taught to study hard; not get an Mrs degree.  If you have a house someone else has one which cost way more than yours.  If you have a nice car, there is one out in front of you twice as expensive, as pictured here.  I can still remember what a privilege it was just to GO to the movies as a kid … and we rarely ever went.  I snapped this picture when we were getting out to see a show.  By the way I LOVE this car and would drive it if I could!  But not to impress others; I just think it’s a sweet ride.  The Swiss-German artist Paul Klee once said:

“Beauty is as relative as light and dark.  Thus, there exists no beautiful woman, none at all, because you are never certain that a still far more beautiful woman will not appear and completely shame the supposed beauty of the first.”

I am trying to impress upon my little one how lucky we are to be able to go see a movie on the big screen.  She doesn’t fully understand now but I intend to make sure she does as she grows older.  Some snotty kid will be bragging about going on vacation and trust me another kid will have gone some place more exclusive.  Meanwhile so many people never get to go anywhere at all.  So whereever you are and whatever you have, be thankful.  Trust me; it’s all relative.