Living Splendidly Imperfect

Nashville, TN: For those of you that knew me in my youth (I say on the brink of my 35th birthday....), you know that I had a slight obsession with SARK, the author/artist/inspirational woman whose books are as colorful as she is. I would race to the bookstore as soon as her latest piece was released, I listened to her national bestseller, "Succulent Wild Woman," on audio tape as I drove cross-country to move to Los Angeles and I almost attacked her (with love, of course) when I met her at a book signing TEN years ago (what? theme in my life? it's not like I've ever done that to anyone else before....).

Though the posters are off the walls now (except for the giant tree in my dining room that definitely was not subconsciously inspired by a certain 4-lettered person), I still glean wisdom and encouragement from random interviews or sayings that pop up, usually via Facebook, these days.

The most recent was an interview in the blog, Crazy Sexy Life, to which SARK instructs us to "Do More Things Badly." In an excerpt from the piece, she says:

"My early abuse experiences taught me that pain lasts, and joy is unreliable. I have since learned to believe more in the opposite: joy is everlasting, and pain cannot always be trusted. And in between those two extremes lie the glorious middle spaces where most of my growth takes place."

Here's a toast (of tea, of course... at least for another 23 days) to living in the middle of extremes, growing and breathing, and embracing the 'splendidly imperfect' beans that we are.