Impossible Things...

I think I have an allergic reaction anytime I read about the Calls for Publication at Somerset Studio. I get all excited, start to make stuff and then... ppfffttt. I don't send anything in. It's probably that little voice in the back of my head that likes to stomp its foot and tell me how utterly untalented I am. I try to ignore it but, we're all really just little children inside who want to be accepted, huh?! I ignored it this week and sent in a few things just for fun. And I plan to ignore the voice again next time. I'm thinking its not the publishing I should be worrying about, but the willingness to listen to a voice that tells me I can't do something.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~ Mark Twain

I was reading the blog of an adventurous family today. They've been biking for 2 years. With 11 year old boys. From Alaska to Argentina. Apparently they homeschool along the way as well. That's a fair bit out of my comfort zone. Imagine pulling up all stakes to your life and hitting the open road. Living on quick food, snacks and hopefully meeting only kind helpful people along the way. Sure we've talked about that before. We thought of doing the same in an RV but we were never brave enough to do it. We're comfortable with our lives; grocery stores on the corner, fast internet at our fingertips, actual beds to sleep in. I can't help but envy this family just a bit though. They're doing an impossible thing. They made it a reality.

Lately I've been contemplating my life, probably too much, DH would say. I'm thinking about the 20 years I've wasted, not doing the things I've dreamed of doing. It hasn't been a waste. I have wonderful children, loving husband but the little things that I wanted for myself... I haven't reached for them. Too many excuses for why not. I've put them in a little mental box as unobtainable. We are our own worst enemies aren't we?

I watched the new Alice in Wonderland last week (which, by the way, was not scary and too dark for my little one, as I had heard it would be. No darker than Chronicles of Narnia!) I love the line where she says her dad believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. She used that bravery and knowledge to help her in the end of the movie. It seems silly to utter outloud but I'd like to be like Alice. A character in a book.

I think today I will make a list of the things swirling around in my brain, the things I've labeled impossible. The stuff only dreamed about... What would be on your list?

(all artwork shown is snippets from pieces submitted for publication.)