Forgive me for a kind of long post but this story was so mind blowing to me that I'm being extra careful in writing this in hopes I can convey the full sweep of the experience to you, my dear reader. Above you see pictures of a "spirit box" created by Julia, a friend and fellow mom in a workshop we participated in at our kids' school. The original inspiration for this workshop was a project the kids did called spirit boxes. The name pretty much says it all. Start with a wooden box. Put stuff in and on it that speaks to your spirit. A few of the parents were so inspired by the kid's spirit boxes (which were really quite enchanting and fantastical), they talked the teachers in to having a workshop for the parents. It was also a great vehicle for the teachers to share some of the philosophies and spirit behind the school.
It was a perfect venue for getting out my artistic ya-ya's and having fascinating conversations with people I just met. We went pretty deep pretty fast. Which I infinitely prefer over small talk and chit chat. We got so into making our spirit boxes that the project stretched on for a few months while us busy moms tried to find time to work on our creations at home.
One of the moms, Julia, got off to late start so she worked on most of her spirit box at home. But she did divulge to us at one of our meet ups that she wanted to make "healing from medical trauma" the intention of her piece as she was a breast cancer survivor. I thought that seemed like a great intention for an art project and I was looking forward to seeing the finished piece.
Finally, by February, we all had managed to mostly finish our spirit boxes and were able get together to talk about it. It was so fascinating and powerful to hear about everyone's ideas, stories, and processes, but Julia's in particular had a power and magic that touched us all. It turns out breast cancer/chemo/surgery was not her only medical trauma. This beautiful lady has had a lifetime of medical trauma. When she was a toddler she got accidental chemical burns (lye) on her scalp and endured multiple surgeries to stretch the parts of her scalp that still had hair in an attempt to make her look like a normal kid. (Meanwhile, she was the "weird kid with the wig".)
And in high school she was diagnosed with scoliosis which led to an ugly brace, surgery, a body cast, and a long stint of being bed-ridden.
On top of her box she had decided to use some twigs she had cut off a bush growing in her yard to represent new life and her growth through all of that trauma. Mind you, at this time it was the dead of winter in Portland and this bush had gone completely bare and dormant. She stuck the branches in Sculpey clay and baked the whole shebang in the oven at 325 degrees for 25 minutes per the product instructions. She then glued purple paper mache balls on the sticks, representing the dates of all of her various surgeries. After this her project was done but we were all having difficulty scheduling a time that we could meet up again so Julia tucked her spirit box into a dark closet for safe keeping until we finally found time to meet in February. OK, brace yourself because here comes the awesome part:
When Julia took her spirit box out of the closet, THE BRANCHES HAD BUDS!
One of the moms, Julia, got off to late start so she worked on most of her spirit box at home. But she did divulge to us at one of our meet ups that she wanted to make "healing from medical trauma" the intention of her piece as she was a breast cancer survivor. I thought that seemed like a great intention for an art project and I was looking forward to seeing the finished piece.
Finally, by February, we all had managed to mostly finish our spirit boxes and were able get together to talk about it. It was so fascinating and powerful to hear about everyone's ideas, stories, and processes, but Julia's in particular had a power and magic that touched us all. It turns out breast cancer/chemo/surgery was not her only medical trauma. This beautiful lady has had a lifetime of medical trauma. When she was a toddler she got accidental chemical burns (lye) on her scalp and endured multiple surgeries to stretch the parts of her scalp that still had hair in an attempt to make her look like a normal kid. (Meanwhile, she was the "weird kid with the wig".)
And in high school she was diagnosed with scoliosis which led to an ugly brace, surgery, a body cast, and a long stint of being bed-ridden.
On top of her box she had decided to use some twigs she had cut off a bush growing in her yard to represent new life and her growth through all of that trauma. Mind you, at this time it was the dead of winter in Portland and this bush had gone completely bare and dormant. She stuck the branches in Sculpey clay and baked the whole shebang in the oven at 325 degrees for 25 minutes per the product instructions. She then glued purple paper mache balls on the sticks, representing the dates of all of her various surgeries. After this her project was done but we were all having difficulty scheduling a time that we could meet up again so Julia tucked her spirit box into a dark closet for safe keeping until we finally found time to meet in February. OK, brace yourself because here comes the awesome part:
When Julia took her spirit box out of the closet, THE BRANCHES HAD BUDS!
Buds! OMFG! Despite being cut, baked, and left in the dark, life. powered. on. Whoa, hello tear producing metaphor! Thank you Julia for living an unbelievable life and fearlessly crafting, whether it's in the arena of art or life or the convergence of the two.
