The Caged Bird

“The caged bird sings with a fearful trill, of things unknown, but longed for still, and his tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of freedom.” Maya Angelou

It has been another long break away from writing on my blog. Usually, I find so much satisfaction putting out posts. Lately, a long lately, I was struggling with motivation. I am a huge extrovert. I receive my “fuel” from talking with people and meeting up. I feel like I had dried up in terms of creativity since the pandemic has been going on. I felt like since I came back from Mexico at the end of February, that I have been a caged bird. Not a lot of stimulation going on in my world. Same old same old most days. And now we are about to head into fall in the Northern Hemisphere. I always love fall, but this year felt different. I sensed an impending doom with winter just around the corner. Seeing as my mobility is so affected by MS, I get very locked in and more isolated in the winter months. I started thinking “I am already locked in. This is going to be terrible.” I can’t do another cold season locked in my house again. Numbers are on the rise for COVID in my area. Turn on the fear. The picture at the beginning of this post is my backyard. I have a few hanging images of birds in cages. The other day I looked at them and thought “That bird is me. Locked in my house.” My flowers and garden is ending and I am going to have to move back into the house and not get out as much. Then some miracles happened that changed my perspective.

The first one came in the form of an invitation. My friend, Christie plays in a band called Western Death Ballads. I love listening to them and they have been practicing in her backyard since the pandemic. They invited me and my husband to come and listen to them around a bonfire in her backyard. I bit the bullet seeing as it was outside, and went over. When I first got there, I realized there were a few people that I didn’t know. I was nervous right away. I had not been around anyone I did not know in months without a mask on. I didn’t want to be that weirdo with a mask on over my face. Everyone was so nice and we were spread out. Within 15 minutes, I totally forgot my fear and had a fabulous evening listening to great music and chatting it up. It was such a blessing because everything felt normal. Normal? I had forgotten how great that felt. Thank you Christie for that restoring evening.

The second miracle that happened was that my sister offered to come up and paint my main floor for me. We moved into a new house almost three years ago. I have wanted to paint ever since. The old owners moving out and us lugging our belongings in, left the walls and corners a little banged up. My sister, Kathy happens to be fantastic at painting houses. She just does it for fun but I thought it would be great for her to do it and we could have a little visit while she was here. First off, the house looks great now. No more scuffs or dents in the walls and everything is in a colour scheme that I love. We also talked about a front room in my house that has great potential with a beautiful big bay window. However, I never knew what to do with the space. So I just didn’t use it much. Should it be a dining room? Should it be a sitting room? It was a space that caused me stress so I just avoided it. My sister recommended bringing up our comfy couch from downstairs into it seeing as we do not use it in the basement. We also made a little kitchen nook in the little alcove off of it. It looks so pretty. I love being in that space now. My husband is a huge vinyl fan and has over 2000 records downstairs. I don’t go downstairs at all really because of my mobility issues. I have not listened to any of them in years. He is now building a little cabinet to put in the room with the comfy couch by the bay window so he can bring a few records up at a time so we can listen to them by the beautiful window. I have ordered new curtains to pretty the room up and am anxiously awaiting their delivery. All it took was another person to suggest the changes for me to be able to see the potential in the room. Thank you Kathy for getting me out of my own way.

This could not have come at a better time with the cooler weather coming. Just changing the colour on the walls, rearranging a bit, and spending some time with friends, has made me excited to do more. It made me want to write this post today. I might even work on some art this week. My book club that I love meeting with, is getting together again on Tuesday. I haven’t seen the ladies for the whole summer. I was nervous about meeting up indoors. However, today I feel like I am ready to be a free bird and fly out of my cage after noticing the sweet peas all around me.

Wishing you to all the strength to find your way out of any cages you feel you are currently confined to for this upcoming beautiful autumn season.

Much love and creativity,

Christine