Catch Yourself

Friday Focus & Flow

It’s graduation time of year again so I find myself mailing out a bunch of cards of congrats. Plus thank yous, thinking of yous, sympathy cards and get- well-soons—just cuz, LIFE, you know?

One thing about me is that I can really nerd out with some paper products.

As I sit down with my pen, stamps nearby, it’s almost like I go into a trance, thinking on the right thing to say, working hard to bring my cursive back from the dead—handwriting that once won me an award in Catholic elementary school, destroyed by typing on these little machines so many years. As I sign off with my signature ❤️, then “Shawna,” I feel my tongue creep toward the edge of my lips in what my husband has dubbed my “concentration face.” It’s the same one I get whenever I am cutting and pasting a zine together, wrapping a present, or doing anything creative with my hands. The same one I got as a kid playing with clay, Colorforms, or watercolors. I think it is joy mixed with loving intention.

Don’t ask me about knitting or crocheting, though. I have tried and come to learn that except for writing, I have zero fine motor skills!