Mary Beth Writes

10/21/2021  Three Things

My birthday was last weekend. This is my question for you; have you celebrated a birthday lately that seemed extra fine? I wonder if the quarantine year reset our happiness scale. I don’t remember being miserable last year, but this year felt so rich.

Supposedly “older folks” are embarrassed or apologetic about being in our sixties or whatever non-cute age we are. I’ve never felt ashamed about getting older but I did internalize that it was my job to pretend this is a sorry joke. Somewhere in this past year I’ve jettisoned that, too. I’m 69; it is what it is. Still agile enough to hike and walk and move and why yes, I DO have a favorite physical therapist. (And I’m seeing her today for my ‘reading injury’ sore shoulder.)

Here are some of my good birthday moments.

Sunday afternoon my daughter called when she had just arrived at a playground with our four-year-old granddaughter. Grandkid was smiling and interacting with me until she saw her BFF Josephine who had arrived for their playdate. Poof, off my kid ran and it happened so fast both my daughter and I broke into laughter. All you could see was the back of my running kid, her blond hair flying, like those videos of parents coming home from war. These little girls had not seen each other in … a week?

Monday evening daughter called again, this time with our two-year-old grandson who is a total pumpkin head. Big head on top of his little body, his tummy pushing out whatever stripes and trucks t-shirt he is wearing.  

He “gets” FaceTime now. He looks right into the phone and grins; he knows we are really somehow behind the window in the phone. Daughter said a few weeks ago she found him in his room intently looking out his bedroom window. Their neighbor was making his breakfast and our kid was talking to him although the neighbor had no idea he was being watched and chatted at. We wonder if he thinks his window is FaceTime; when you see someone you love who is small and behind glass, you can talk to them.

Anyways, on the phone this week he was trying to say Happy Birthday which was cute. Len and I were talking to him and he watched us, his face all lit up like Christmas. It occurred to me he looks now like I looked on the MayaWorks trips to visit weavers in Guatemala. Totally happy to be there, concentrating like crazy, listening so hard for any word in the conversation that I might understand. When I did understand a word or sentence (from my high school Spanish) I would light up like a Christmas tree, too. People coping in a language they barely know pretty much all look like two-year-olds.

But, if you say “firetruck” he’s here for it. He’s got that word nailed.

I’m like that with “almuerza.” It means lunch.

Len and I spent Sunday afternoon at the Art Institute in Chicago. We hadn’t been there in maybe 15 years and it was powerful to revisit paintings that affected us when we were young.

Of course, this was one of the most amazing visions of the day. Every single person was wearing a mask and wearing it properly.

By the end of the afternoon, I had a new favorite painter. Marsden Hartley. I’ve already put books about him on hold at the library so I’ll know more in a few weeks.

He was born Edward Hartley in 1877, the 9th of nine kids, to a poor family in Lewiston, Maine. When he was 8 his mom died. Later his dad remarried Martha Marsden. I don’t know why he took her name as his name when he became an artist. Curious.

He worked in a shoe factory the year he was 14 (consider what you know about dangerous textile and leather factories in New England in the 1880’s, before unions and safety standards). At 15 he moved to Ohio where he went to art school.  Later he would live and paint in NYC, where he achieved some success.

When he was 35 he moved to Berlin where he fell in love with a Prussian military man, Karl von Freyburg. Von Freyberg would die in WWI, devasting Hartley. Hartley appreciated German culture through the 30’s and 40’s. Also curious for a gay man in that time and place.

I didn’t know even this much when his paintings caught my attention. These are three of his paintings at the Art Institute.

 

I like Hartley because I like the suggestion of shapes more than “it’s only this one thing and nothing more.” I love shadows. I’m curious about how this guy fitted himself into his world. His paintings from the southwest remind me of places Len and I visited this past May; that landscape is so massive, to witness and wonder seems like the only honest response.

I like watching my granddaughter streaming across a playground to her friend because it says she feels joy and passion and that’s awesome. I like that my grandson is trying so hard to figure out how to communicate with the rest of us. As a writer, I empathize that this is not always simple to do, but one keeps trying.

I like art that comes from a complicated life and leads me back to mine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

Happy Belated Birthday!!!
Mary Beth's picture

Thank you!

Thank you, Mary Beth, for sharing the joy of your Birthday. It transferred. Many Happy Returns!
Mary Beth's picture

Thanks, Karen!

This made me smile. We also have more time to enjoy our birthdays now! Life is good.
Mary Beth's picture

Hah. We've known each other since we were, what, 25? That's a lot of birthday cards.

Happiest of birthdays to you! I love celebrating birthdays; in my view, it is an honor to age. I turned 60 last January. My intent was to have a big Disco party...the pandemic had other plans. My mom, daughter and I had a lovely lunch on the patio. I proudly wore a t-shirt my younger sister sent me: Vintage 1961. All original parts. The quiet of midday was disrupted by a surprise Mariachi band serenade family members had hired. I danced and sang with them, while family members attended through Facetime. It was wonderful! Talk about feeling the LOVE! I raise my glass to you. Patricia
Mary Beth's picture

I LOVE this! Mariachi band, "vintage 1961, original parts", family on the deck. On my 60th I took the day off from work, invited many GF's (most are possibly reading this now), made so many pancakes, drank wine, and then there was a spectacular layer cake from Kathryn. Because everyone needs cake after pancakes. I said I wanted presents form everyone - with a $5 cap on price and thus received some of the best stuff one could laugh at. socks, markers, plants, chocolate. I'm sitting here grinning remembering that day. Good memories that are good medicine.

Happy Birthday! Good for you, accepting the age you are. Stay healthy!
Mary Beth's picture

Thank you! Though a behind the scenes joke was in the text, when I said I am glad to be 69, when I proofed it before finalizing it here - it said 29. Made me laugh.

Happy Late Birthday MB (NOT really, I feel we should celebrate our birthday month) because at our age we are deserving of it... I'm just now reading this post... I love finding the joy in the simple things, when it happens on ones birthday it's even better... Many more my friend...

The Art Institute of Chicago. What a lovely way to spend your birthday and to emerge ever so delicately out of Covid isolation. I have been a regular at the Art Institute before Covid, and went to an amazing exhibit of the work of Bisa Butler, an African-American fabric artist exhibit earlier this summer. It was breathtaking in its creativity, dazzling color, and cultural roots. As many times as I have walked the galleries, I have never taken note of Edward Hartley's work. The two landscapes are shades of Van Gogh with the swirling sky and hills. And what a backstory! You have piqued my interest.

Add new comment

CAPTCHA

This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Y is for Yellowstone

9/27/2023

Back in February I asked you to give me topics to write about that would correspond to the alphabet. Sometimes several of you sent ideas for one letter and sometimes I wrote about all of them (I’s and S’s) Here we are at letter Y for which your suggestions are Yummy Food and Yawns. The word yawn absolutely makes me yawn; no way I could write about that - I would yawn for hours. I worked on Yummy Food but could only find a scolding voice about Americans eating too much sugar. Bah. True but not interesting.

So, I gave Y a go again. Y is for?

"I was Scott Simon's teller."

9/22/2023

First of all - Thank you to those of you who came to the Wisconsin Writers Association zoom gala last night. I HAD received an email a week ago which said I would be reading my whole story. Cutting it in half while I was reading was awkward! It was still a happy event for me and the other writers. Thanks for being there! 

X is for Xeriscape

9/20/2023

Xeriscape is pronounced ‘zeer-eh-scape’ and it means landscaping with little to no irrigated water. Readers in the west already know about this. Those of us who don’t live in arid or desert places need to wake up to the incredible resource that water is - then begin to accommodate ourselves to “water all around and beneath us all the time” is no longer our reality. Nor is it our right. We’ve got to get smarter and do better.

W is for Wonder

9/13/202

To whomever suggested Wonder - Thank You!  ‘Wonder’ has been bobbing in my mind like a frog in a pond.

However, I have FOUR suggestions from you guys for X - but I do not want to write four X essays. These are the suggestions:

1.) X signature substitution

2.) xylophone on a string pulled by a toddler

3.) xenophobia

4.) Xmas. 

If you have an opinion respond with the one you would like me to attempt. I will choose whichever X gets the most comments.

There will be no gerrymandering in this election.

GNTL - NAMI

9/7/2023

Grownups Noticing Their Lives

NAMI

Most of you know about my former weird and lovely job of coordinating an employability skills program for Huber-qualified inmates in the Racine County Jail (that’s a mouthful). Early on I realized that most of the people I would work with were people with 1.) huge addiction problems, and 2.) underlying and over-the-top and to-the-side just lying around mental health issues.

V is for Vocabulary

9/6/2023 

For those who are new here - This year I am writing about topics, in alphabetical order, that were suggested to me by readers. Sometimes this is hard! 

IRTNOG

My cousin-in-law Dave has some powerfully thorough avocations (for fun and profit he earned a PhD in biochemistry; you will notice this in his list). This year, among other pursuits, he has been collecting words which have appeared in our culture since 1945, which was the year he also appeared in our culture.

Tag Cloud

9/11 17 minutes 500 Words A-Z AARPtaxes AAUW abortion Acadia accident Accountable Advent aging Alaska anniversary antibiotics antlers apples appointments Arrows art Ashland August Augustine aunts baby Badlands balance Baldwin Barbara Barkskins Beauty Becky Becoming Esther Berry birthday bistro BLM Blue BookReport books boy scout Bread BrokenDays BuyAngry Cabeza de Vaca Cahokia calendars Canada canoe cat romance cats cello Chicago China Choosing Christmas cilantro Cinnabuns circus climate change clouds Clowns clutter Colonialism comet ComfortZone CommonSense community consumerism Cops Corvid-19 Courage Covid-19 Crazy creditreport creosote CrimeShows danger DarkRiver death Debate December DecisionFatigue decluttering democracy dentist depression Destination Today Detroit Didion disasterprep dogs dollhouse Dreams Duty Easter eBay Echoes Eclipse election EmilyDickinson eschatology Esquipulas exit polls eyes Fable FairTrade family farmer Fata Morgana ferns firealarm Fitness Five Flatbread Flexible flu Food Pantry Fort de Chartres frame Franc FrancGarcia friends frugal FrugalHacks Frugality frustration Ft.Ticonderoga fungi fusion Galena Gannets Garden GarfieldParkConservatory Gaspe genius geode GeorgeFloyd gerrymandering ghosts gifts girls GNTL gorgons goulash GovernorThompsonStatePark Graduation grandkids granola groceries Guatemala gum guns Hair happiness HaveYouEver? hawks healthcare Healthinsurance hearings heart heaven HelleKBerry heroes hike History home HomeRepair Honduras Hope HowCrowGotOutofJail humor hurricane Ice Cream idiosyncrasy igloos impeachment Innkeeper Instincts integrity InternetPrivacy Interview InviteMe2Speak James Baldwin Jan 6 Janus jewelry JoyceAndrews Judy JulianofNorwich Jump justice Karen kites ladder Lady Lamb LangstonHuges LaphamPeak laundry LeeLeeMcKnight lemming Len Light Lincoln Little Women LockedOut Loki loneliness LouisArmstrong Love Ludington Macaw macho Manitoulin MargaretFuller Maria Hamilton Marquette marriage Marsden Hartley masks Mayan MayaWorks meme Memories men Middlemarch MilesWallyDiego MindfulChickens Mistakes MLK moon Mother MothersDay mounds mouser movies museums must-haves Mustapha NAMI Nancy Drew Newfoundland New Mexico New York City Nomadland nope observation OBUUC Ocotillo OnaJudge ordinary OscarRomero osprey Outside oximeter Parade mayhem PastorBettyRendon Paul Hessert PDQ Penny persimmon photos Pi Pies pineapples poetry Preaching privacy procrastination Protest QE2 Quern quest Questions Rabbit holes racism reading recipe recipes recommendations Remember RepresentationMatters Reruns responsetoKapenga Retirement rhubarb Ricky rime RitesofPassage romance Rosemary Ruether Roses Roti Ruth SamaritanWoman Sanctuary Sandhillcranes Santuario de Chimayo SaraKurtz SaraRodriguez satellites ScottSimon sculpture Seasons Sermon ServantsoftheQuest sewing Shepherd Shontay ShortStory shoulder sick sickness Slower snow Social Security SofritoBandito solstice South Dakota SpaceShuttle spirituality spring square feet staining stars stele Stereotypes stories StoryStarts stream monitoring stress Survival swim Talent taxes teenager thankgsgiving Thanksgiving TheBridge TheMaid ThePerpetualYou therapy ThreeBillBoards Three Thing ThreeThings Three Things TidalBore TimeBeing toddler Tom tortillas Trains travel Traveler Tubing turtle Twilight Bark Tyrone Ukraine Ulysses Grant Umbrella UnrelatedObservations Up North urgency vacation vaccine Valentines vanilla Vietnam vision VivianWokeUpDrowning Vocabulary vole volunteer WalkingAndSeeing Wampanaog war WarsanShire weather weaving Webs wedding whines WhyAttendChurch Wiley Willa WillaCather Wisteria Won! Wonder words Xeriscape Yellowstone
Ad Promotion