Last writing class

I forgot to take a pic today of the set up that is happening on campus, the giant tent for graduation & the stage etc. This picture is from the other day...the frame now has the canopy over it.

WoW! I am just SO excited.

For today's "final" we had a pot luck. Everyone was so at ease & friendly. Too bad it's now at the LAST class...kwim?  But one girl/classmate actually requested to keep in touch w/ me--that made me feel good.

We all shared what our *message* is in our 'writing' or the message we want to convey. I've been thinking about it for a few months now since it was first brought up.

I realize my "message", that I want to convey in my writing, is the same as what drives me in LIFE. It's LOVE. Not the romance novel type of love but the real love that endures birth defects, disappointments, hardship & every day real live.  The real love that lives next door, in your neighbor that is from a foreign country and is striving for their idea of the American Dream. The real love that lives in the man across the street and makes homemade juice for his wife who has finally finished her last cancer treatment. The real love in the husband that hates gardening but will go out on a hot, sunny day and mow the lawn for his wife. The real love in the wife that will slice real lemons and strawberries and add them to the tap water with ice and deliver it to her husband with a smile, as he sweats over the lawn mower. The real love in the mother that's cleaning vomit splatter from the hallway at 3 am in the morning, after her 10 yo wakes up in the middle of the night with stomach cramps. The real love that strips the bed for the third time that week to wash sheets of preschool pee. The real love that would take on the task of being a young mother, with an uncertain future, to give birth to the son of God.

THAT is what I want to convey in my writing and in my life.

Besides that though...it was a sentimental moment at the end of class--just a few of us--& it was such a neat feeling to know that someone actually GETS what you are trying to convey & understands. One classmate, we shared the short story fiction and NON-fiction creative writing class together & he is also graduating--in that class I wrote a piece about depression--he understood, combined w/ my fictional writing style AND my non-fiction--exactly what I meant about "Love".

I think he could relate to the idea of 'unconditional love' & over coming hardship because his family has hit severe financial difficulty & moved to Las Vegas & he has to leave school to go work & help them survive basically. THAT is the message of LOVE I want to convey--& the voices I want to be heard.

aaahhhhh....

it's bitter sweet to see it end!
I totally want to keep in touch w/ the ones that want to...& maybe we can have a writers group this summer or something. ;-)

And it's a pretty good feeling to know and realize that.