Summer is here in full force and I have the mosquito bites to prove it. (I seem to get tastier as I get older.) June brings transitions as schools let out and schedules shift into summer mode. For me, June means outdoor music, outdoor tennis, and the Project Mar:a Art jam.
My USTA tennis team is in full swing (pun intended) and we’ve already had several matches. We were short-staffed last week, and our captain was desperate enough to put me in on the singles court against a much younger opponent. Gak – I had my misgivings, but was willing to give it a go. We ended up having a great match, and after two plus sweaty hours, I managed to eke out a close victory . We were the last ones on the court, and our match was the decider among the teams. Good thing i didn’t know that at the time!
Saturday night was an art jam sponsored by Project Mar:a. The use of the semicolon instead of an ‘i’ is intentional. The Semicolon has become a symbol of a movement dedicated to presenting hope and love to those struggling with a variety of mental illnesses. “A semicolon is used when an author could’ve chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life” (from Project Semicolon)
The featured speaker was Dawn Smith-Theodore, author of “Tutu Thin” who spoke of her own struggles, and the pervasiveness of eating disorders among dancers. There were some local performers and speakers, including myself–I spoke of my experiences as a mother and as an eating disorder advocate.
I was pleasantly surprised. I had gone to the art jam last year, and it was a nice, but very small-scale affair. This year, they used the High School stage for several performances, and had about 50ish people in attendance. It has been several decades since I was on a High School stage, and I had to fight the temptation to break into a song from Fiddler on the Roof.
After my speech, a lovely young woman approached me in tears, and asked for my phone number. She’s been struggling for 15 years with anorexia and she wanted to give my number to her mom — so her mom could have someone who ‘understands’ to talk with. We chatted a bit, and hugged. You just never know what people are going through.
While I was at the art jam, Dan went to a live rock concert downtown – where he ran into several friends. All in all, we both had great evenings.