No need to be jealous, but while I was at 2nd Star I got a kiss from a genuine movie star.

Okay, you can be jealous! Not every girl gets a chance for a kiss from Digby, but if you do get the chance, go for it!  Sure, he also burped in my ear and tried to eat my hair, but he is a Goblin after all.

I hope that Goblin is the politically correct term, I don't wish to offend. 

Digby is one of the many awesome puppets from the film short Lessons Learned, he just happens to be my favorite.  He has got a certain something that makes me want to refer to him as 'Digby' and use proper pronouns instead of as "it" or a puppet.  If I had the chance (and the money) I wouldn't buy Digby, I'd adopt him.

So, there's a lesson for your lesson box (and a reference you will have to watch the movie to get): Art is something that establishes a profound connection with its audience.

Who a particular work of art connects to, why, and how is variable.  I've been brought to tears by marble sculptures, not because of their subject matter, the human form, but because of the profound beauty of the execution.  They were the product of a human endeavor to hone a skill to perfection.   I reached out and brushed my finger tips against the marble,  expecting but not caring that some kind of alarm would go off, but none did. 

Others in the room saw these as beautiful sculptures and appreciated them as such, but they did not see the countless hours of dedication and learning that went into those sculptures, the back-breaking work, or the heart-breaking failures.   The very things that had moved me.

That is another lesson to put in your lesson box: You cannot as an artist force a connection and understanding with an audience, nor predict how an audience will connect.

I admit that I really want to blog; I want to share my thoughts, but generally I feel like I have nothing of importance to say.

Today is different.

Today is different because we spent the weekend at the first 2nd Star festival in Florence, OR, and it was amazing. For those of you that could not make it, I’m sorry but you missed out on a magical experience.

I’ll begin with a little romance since our 7th wedding anniversary was this weekend.  The people at 2nd Star were so cool that they conspired with to Ben surprise me by playing a song he composed for me years ago on the main stage.  I am not ashamed to admit that for the first time in my life I felt like a princess, and there were tears.
My husband is a beautiful man.  

If a group of people have the kind of energy that makes me feel comfortable crying like I just won the Miss America pageant, it is a special thing.

What made 2nd Star so great is that Matt and Kesha managed to gather together those who not only wanted to create something that was good but who were willing to put in the time and effort it takes to do so. It is very rare to find so many creative people in one place who understand this.  It was invigorating to be in that environment.

The reality is that it does not take any effort to wish for something to happen, you have to make it happen.  Success in any area is not a static state, it must be constantly tended to with ideas, attempts, failure, learning, and adaptation.  

Yes, I am saying success is Sisyphean task, but so is everything else in life.  Being safe, sheltered, and fed is not the natural state of any living being, it requires constant effort to hold on to even the most basic of requirements for life and nothing will ever change that (except death of course). Some may see this outlook as pessimistic, but it is freeing.

I have no particular destination to reach just a road to walk, and I am content to keep moving.