You might have noticed that I recently changed the blog format. Gone are the days when it's easy to make the blog look like the rest of my website. Gone also is the photo of that greeted all my readers over the years. Wild Sailing Woman became rather an iconic image, so I thought I'd give her a fitting bon voyage with the tale of how she came to be.
Believe it or not, I was an extremely shy child. I'd talk endlessly one-on-one (still will), but large groups were terrifying. It was a handicap that followed me well into adulthood that only began to change after I spawned the world's most extroverted child. I didn't want my problem to cause him to believe there was anything wrong with his own way of embracing the world (and nearly every stranger in it) so I dragged myself out of my own shell.
Believe it or not, I was an extremely shy child. I'd talk endlessly one-on-one (still will), but large groups were terrifying. It was a handicap that followed me well into adulthood that only began to change after I spawned the world's most extroverted child. I didn't want my problem to cause him to believe there was anything wrong with his own way of embracing the world (and nearly every stranger in it) so I dragged myself out of my own shell.
There were always 2 exceptions to my shyness which helped hide it:
1. I could talk to and teach any number of people as long as I had the tools of my craft in my hands.
2. I have a really difficult time resisting a dare.
The first exception explains why I have always been able to teach in the visual and performing arts (since I was 16!). The second exception should explain at least in part the photograph and my sartorial choice (or lack thereof).
Sailing off the coast of Venzuela in 2003, I had been watching porpoises swim back and forth under the bow for a while when the captain told me that porpoises and dolphins were known to flirt with humans, and so the dare was made for me to loose my massive pale-chick covering.
In case you're wondering, yes, they do! One followed us for ages, swimming at an odd angle so as never to take his right eye off me. When the school moved on, I handed the camera to the captain and said,
"Here. I want a picture I can look back at when I'm 80 and remember that I never failed to carpe diem."
I've seized many days since then, and now it's time to embrace a new blog format with the many technological features of a Blogger CSS template such as links that I don't have to micromanage and an email subscription option (hint, hint). Wild Sailing Woman lives on in many other ways.
I've seized many days since then, and now it's time to embrace a new blog format with the many technological features of a Blogger CSS template such as links that I don't have to micromanage and an email subscription option (hint, hint). Wild Sailing Woman lives on in many other ways.
3 comments:
Talent is never shy. Ergo, you are talented
Thanks, Hans! High praise from an artist as talented as you are.
First of all, although you have decided to retire that photo, I am in love with it and the beautiful story behind it!
It reminds me of the day when we took the Miss, just 4 months old, to have some portraits done at a dear friend's studio. I don't know what came over me, but after hearing his story about a portrait of a breastfeeding mom he had recently seen, I decided to shed my very own heavy cloak and just go for it! Today, just a week after she has turned 13, I am so thankful that I was brave enough to do that. What a beautiful memory captured in time!
Secondly, I felt like I was reading my very own story. Until the Miss came along, I was so very shy and found it difficult to talk to anyone. I guess these little people were placed into our lives for more reasons than we will ever know!
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