A Sisters' Answer to "What's Next?"
Do you remember the first movie you ever saw in a theatre? Mine was actually at the drive in. I was in the back of my Dad’s turquoise Chevrolet station wagon. I also remember the red and white striped box of popcorn between my knees. The speaker was hanging from a cord, hooked on the open window. This was big doings, mosquitoes and all!
The movie? The movie was THE JUNGLE BOOK. Besides the event itself, I don’t remember much about it. It was something about a little jungle boy, a black panther, a tiger and a big dancing bear named Baloo. Fond memory, but it had floated away with childhood til a few years ago. Flash forward...like WAY forward.
Natalie and I had not written our book, created classes or started our website yet. However, we were in Washington D.C. taking in the city and drinking chai tea. We were bringing The Sisters of Earth and Sky to life, discussing the topic of what we wanted to include and what we didn’t. We had agreed on the desire to “keep things simple”. We had talked about how “uncomplicated” was a place we enjoyed working and playing. We then asked ourselves what that looked like.
We had to stop there because...well... neither of us knew the answer. Trusting the process we carried our art loving selves to where other art loving playmates were hanging out. We went to a funky art gallery in nearby Alexandria, Virginia. The Torpedo Factory is a large building where each office had been turned into an individual and unique space. We were surrounded with working artists in their working/playing studios along with texture, color and bliss. Everything The Sisters of Earth and Sky get “shazammed” about is wrapped around “Living What You Love”. Well, we love the high of being around people who are on their own surfboard of creativity and inspiration. We were happy girls.
We romped through the different studios like puppies playing on the porch. I’m not sure who started it, but we began humming. I’m the one who breaks into song like an old Elvis movie and Natalie can let stuff just roll out of her brand of playfulness like a gumball machine.
So not sure who started first, but before we knew it we were both singing the “Bare Necessities” song from THE JUNGLE BOOK. It was interesting that we knew every word, every line even though it was a childhood memory that we had never shared. Now, to anyone else I’m sure we looked like 2 gals who had enjoyed more than chai tea that day. To some, we looked silly and to some we quite possibly were just annoying (although the artists seem to dig it). We knew we had found the answer to what “simple” looked like to the Sisters.
To us “simple” meant, appreciating the small things, keeping everything within a space that we enjoyed being, staying in the flow and trusting the process. Every time the song would say, “the bare necessities of life will come to you,” and Natalie would sing, “Will come to me!”(in the cutest little girl voice ever). I would hear confirmation, navigation and inspiring giggles.
It’s now… sort of a theme song for us. It reminds us to not make things more complicated than they have to be. It also reminds us of the day in the art gallery when we remembered that sometimes playing is what gets the work done. Here’s to keeping things simple! What does simple look like to you?