Friday, July 9, 2010

Mommy Watch Me !!!


Congratulations to Shannon E. Kennedy
Featured Words of Wisdom writer
July 9, 2010

The Writer 
with her laptop, trusty pup, green monkey and goblet of well chilled chardonnay

Photograph by Joan Harrison 
Artist and Author of Doing it with Grace

***

Last summer, while vacationing in Lake Tahoe, I watched a young boy beg for his mothers attention as he swam in the hotel pool.

"Mommy watch me, MOMMY watch me!" he shouted over and over and over again.

Mommy was too busy balancing a diaper-clad newborn between her hip and breast, conversing with carefree adults and half-eyeing her three OTHER children, to acknowledge her toe-head, sunscreen slathered son, swimming confidently without his water wings

My husband and I were deliberately detached - sunbathing on the far side of the pool - with tall drinks, dark glasses and zero responsibility.

Despite the incomparable beauty of blooming peaks against blue skies, "Mommy watch me" was all we could focus on.

Irritated red and tender to the touch, my husband was about to leave the pool when I express MY desires.

"Will you watch me dive?" I ask
"There's no diving board" he answers
"That's  true... but, if there was... would you watch me?"

Lake Tahoe is our last stop before plunging into the hardpan desert terrain at Burning Man - an annual, non conventional, festival that focuses on radical self-expression and self-reliance.

 Burning Man - Black Rock City
polaroid transfer by Jalinde

This will be my 8th year attending Burning Man and my (third) husband's first.

This Watch Me moment helps me realize that, what I want most from my first coupled Burning Man experience, is for my levelheaded husband to watch me willfully free fall into the pit of 50 thousand like-minded dreamers, doers and abstract thinkers that make up this limit-free, temporary city.

Once we reach Burning Man, I share the story with our campmates (aka "chosen family") and am pleased to discover that we all, on some level, relate to the need to be watched and celebrated.

"Mommy Watch Me" becomes a reoccurring theme throughout the week.  We take it a step further by propping a Watch Me mirror and spot-light chair in the center of our cozy camp.


Watch Me therapy exposes my need to be the focus of my lovers interest - to have him witness me engaged in an environment that make me happy, excited and proud. And perhaps most important, that it is OKAY to ask for his attention (as apposed to "acting out").


When I'm not twirling a baton, hula hooping, costuming, painting, photographing or dancing... I enjoy (crave) having YOU read what I've written.

Well...today is MY DAY to be seen!  Today, I am a featured writer or "Blogger of Note" for Words of Wisdom or WOW for short.

WOW is a community of writers, readers and photographers, who enjoy thought provoking, insightful writing.

This is just the kick in the ASS that I need!

Lately, I've been more focused on birds than words - as you'll see from my most recent posts.

So please DO sit back...pour yourself a cup, mug, goblet, or bowl of your favorite beverage and watch me WOW you with a few of my favorite posts.


Green Monkey, a short story, tells the beginning of my healing after the death of my son.  The story will be included in a book appropriately called Burning Man Stories by Phil Steele.  This thrills me because THEY - the lovers, dreamers and doers that attend or inspire to attend Burning Man will know that my son, Kerry Ryan Magann, "Lived and Burned" as Kerry once wrote.


Play Date for Dad is about the ongoing, ever-changing connection with my once larger then life, now frail father.  It's light and humorous and I'm told, by those who know me all too well, that my voice resonates clearest here.


First Taste of Summer is a poetically flirtatious remembrance of a young girls first kiss.


Happy Whee Day is classic, silly ME getting sidetracked by my quirky, over active imagination.

Halfway down my main page and also across the top are more of MONKEYS BEST.

I don't post as regularly as some of my favorite bloggers.  Often my over-thinking or over-tweaking gets in the way.  Lately I've been incorporating photo's and art from artists I've found on Etsy and in google searches.  There is a plethora of talent out there!

And speaking of talent...

I'd like to acknowledge Joan Harrison, author of Doing it With Grace.  Joan and I grew up in the same small town, first met in kindergarten when we were 5 but didn't get to know each other until facebook at the age of 50.

When I first saw Joan's blog I was blown away.  She's creative and funny and a joy to read.  She was the inspiration for starting my blog.  Seeing her main page photo and reading her content made me hungry enough to start my own.  Thank you Joan!  And thank you for taking the time to visit and photograph me and sweet Miss Lucy.  Seeing myself in a photograph, labeled as a "writer" makes it seem... more real.


Westmoreland School Kindergarten class
Trucksville, PA
Joan Harrison - second row, far right 
Shannon Kennedy - front row, far left 


Before closing, I'd like to thank Sandy and Pam - the creators and hosts of Words of Wisdom.  If you've never been to the site, do check it out and if you like what you find please consider encouraging other writers, readers, lovers, dreamers, doers and thinkers, to join.

 

Here's to blue sky's, tall glasses, gentle breezes, lessons learned and.... moments in the spotlight ~

Love, Light and Laughter,
Monkey ME


Green Monkey Tales © 2010 Shannon E. Kennedy


for a great read on Burning Man: 
The Truth About Burning Man



In Honor and In Memory
of my son
Kerry Ryan Magann

You asked that we tell your son the good things about you.
I promise to tell the world. 

*** 


24 comments:

  1. I love to encourage and comment. Congrats on WOW. I'll come back to check out more but until then I will follow.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Always love your posts. Congrats on the being the BON.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congratulations on the mention over at WOW! You deserve it for sure. I've been "watching you" for quite some time now. I think you are brave and brilliant and beautiful.

    Thank you for being you

    ReplyDelete
  4. Shannon, I came just to thank you for visiting my blog, and to check out your own place. And I've been swept away by your raw honesty, really taken in. Loving your blog, and your words.

    I want you to know, too, how deep-felt my sorrow is for the loss of your son. I can't imagine. I lost my dad just shy of two months ago, and it was an immeasurable loss... still, I can't imagine losing one of my daughters.

    ReplyDelete
  5. congratulations on being featured today! i know that i've visited you in the past, but it's always nice to come back around :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Following from the over 40 blog hop, hope you will follow me back :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congratulation on the WOW! Keep up the great work on writing! (>: I feel honored in knowing such a fantastic writer!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice to know that I may have had a little something to do with the birth of Green Monkey Tales, but as Glinda the Good Witch pointed out to Dorothy- you had the power all along... Congrats on the WOW feature and thanks for using my photo. It's been wonderful to finally get to know you after all these years. Write on.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Shannon, CONGRATULATIONS! Whenever the BON is a blogger who is familiar to me, I feel like I'm part of the cool crowd. An insider, you know? And this status is truly deserved. I love this piece you wrote especially for today. A child asking to be watched is a human expressing a natural desire. We'd all be better off if life didn't train us to hold back our most primal desires. Sounds like Burning Man (which I've heard of often but have never attended) is the ultimate antidote to society's constant insistence that we all act like grown-ups.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Congratulations on the WOW! You have been a WOW long before receiving the acknowledgement.

    “Look at me!” is one of the inherent human traits needed for survival. In some way it defines the notion of resilience. Some people say it in their heads, some whisper it quietly under their breath, others shout it from the roof tops, believing it they are louder they will be heard.

    Well you are being heard now girlfriend! From one shouter to another, LOOK AT YOU!
    ….And then of course “look at me!” Love Pinky

    ReplyDelete
  11. Congratulations on being a BON - it's my first time here, but won't be my last!

    ReplyDelete
  12. You mean this is getting National attention? You have made me immortal Shannon (last row, 4th from left between Ward Hartman and Steve Jones, puffing out my lips at the wrong moment)...
    Oh, and your writing is as interesting as usual... I wouldn't expect anything less. Good Job.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Stopping by from WOW and I think this was a great story to share on your BON day.

    Well written. Well done.

    ReplyDelete
  14. You write from your heart... This I know, because they strike a chord deep inside the heart! Congrats on becoming the BON..
    You were always one for me :)
    Keep going!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Happy Happy BON day! What a terrific post!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. THANK YOU EVERYONE :) for your comments and kind words. I sooo appreciate it!

    are you STILL watching me ???

    wait, today is my Moms birthday so ...

    WATCH MY MOM, WATCH MY MOM!!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Shannon,
    I've been following you for a while, and I've been blown away by the power of your most heartfelt work, especially the stories about your son and your journey after losing him. Glad others are getting a chance to know you, too. Enjoy your BON day!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Shannon! Congrats on being the newest B.O.N.!I popped over from WOW and would've sworn I already left a comment here, but don't see it. It was probably when I was having Blogger Issues and gave up! Your blog posts are definitely a departure from the ones I usually read. I like the way you write and how honest you are. I can't even begin to imagine what you've gone through since your son died. If it helps at all, another Mom here, will keep you in my thoughts. Congrats again!

    ReplyDelete
  19. ((((((THANK YOU EVERYONE)))))))

    soaking up the kind words - it really means a lot.

    I have a dear friend visiting so will not be able to write until mid week. But I'm reading YOU as fast as I can.

    Hope you are all enjoying the summer - I love summer!

    Monkey ME

    ReplyDelete
  20. I am truly glad I've found your blog (via WOW) - your writing is amazing - I just finished reading your first post (green monkey) and it moved me deeply; your talent goes beyond words. Thanks a lot for sharing and congratulations for the BON.
    www.castazero.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  21. WoW challenges us to comment insightfully. That's quite difficult, considering the depth of your writing. What can I add? I am so happy to have come across your blog. Being relatively new to the blogging world, I am overjoyed to read such high quality work. You deserve to be noticed!
    You are tremendously inspirational and confirming. It's great to see how your Spirit shines in spite of what I consider to be the ultimate pain. Thank you for your sincerity and sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  22. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Congratulations, Shannon. About time other readers (and writers) discovered you :-) Enjoy your time in the sun.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hi Shannon, congratulations on the WOW, I'm going to go check it NOW!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for encouraging my JOY of writing. By reading and commenting you are feeding my soul, stroking my heart, and in the end...making me a better writer.

Thank You For Encouraging My Joy of Writing

Thank You For Encouraging My Joy of Writing
greenmonkeytales@live.com

Shannon E. Kennedy

***

Photo by Joan Harrison