It was one of the first things I learned in college. Of course I was nervous. I wanted to do well. There was so much to learn. I had been given good advice from the Jefferson Senior High career counselor. It was simple, but most extraordinary things are — “Start with what you love,” she told me. I added a creative writing course to my schedule of the first U of M semester. 

I’m not sure why I was shocked when the professor asked us to read aloud our first assignment. I had been reading aloud with my mother since the first grade. I knew the power of words sounded out, not just for definition, but for MEANING! It’s probably not a surprise that mine was a personal story. So the breaks in my voice were real. One student asked, after I caught my breath, after I gathered in all those words that danced from my heart’s page into the air, after I nervously stared at the paper in hand, “Is it supposed to be that personal?” The professor said the words I still live by today, “It can never be too personal.”

And it wasn’t, isn’t, just for writing. Nor painting. It enhances my whole life. Yesterday when I went on my first walk, just hours after arriving in Minnesota, it felt like the green and flowered path was created just for me. Not in a selfish way, but pure gratitude. Two new statues were added to the park, both birds…c’mon now… how could not believe?

And I could see it on their faces, the others that were truly feeling the same. The woman gathered under the weeping willow. Those paddling boats in the water. Walking hand in hand on the path. They didn’t have to say anything. Their smiles said it all. Passing each other, we’d smile, not just to be cordial, but an act that said, “Can you believe this is all for us?!!!” And the extra nod said, “Yes.”

Every moment is personal. Perhaps in this knowledge, we tread a little lighter and we smile a little brighter. Led by the green. Taught within the bloom.