Wall Doodles

I don't personally remember this event... to be honest, I'm not even sure if I was born when this happened, but I do know I was small enough that I wasn't in trouble.

When my siblings were little, there were a lot of them for my mother to look after. The first four children were born in such rapid succession that when my grandfathers would attend one of their baptisms, they would say good bye to each other by waving and saying, "See you for another one next year!" So you can understand if my mother had a moment of silence, she took it. On this particular day, however, the silence should have made her a bit more nervous.

When she went upstairs to check on my siblings, she discovered the quiet was because they were busy writing and coloring on the walls in the hallway. I'm sure they felt as though they had made great works of art, but mom was a little less than thrilled with their Picasso-esque antics. She trotted them all down to the basement and sat them on a couch, with pillows in between them so they couldn't look at or mess with each other, and declared they were just going to have to sit there and wait until their father came home to deal with this. I think she was too furious to even think up of a punishment and was sure dad would be equally upset.

My siblings all say they sat on that couch stewing for what seemed like forever, worrying over the punishment that was coming. I assume after mom told dad the story, he assured her he would take care of it and some sort of appropriate punishment would occur. But I think deep down he must have found more humor in the situation (a direct result of NOT watching six kids all day, no doubt) because as he approached the nervous children on the couch he said something to the effect of, "Umm... yeah... don't do that again." Not exactly a terror-inducing scolding, but I think the time spent nervously waiting on the couch was enough for my siblings to get the message.

I, through hearing the story many times over, learned it was not a good idea to write on the walls. But man, I always had the urge. When I moved into my condo and was rearranging I had an idea to revamp a closet in the room that I had made into my TV area. A friend helped me take off the doors and put my desk inside. I later added some curtains and... voila! I now had a work alcove (aka, a really fancy term for a desk in a closet). The rest of the room was painted red, which made the glaring white closet stick out like a sore thumb... but the idea of taking everything out of the "alcove" to paint it was more than I could handle.

Since it needed color, and I still had this hankering for doodling on walls, I took some colorful sharpie markers and went to town. I've surrounded myself with positive quotes that I love, and over time added sayings here and there, as well as some paint backgrounds and pictures the kids have colored for me. I LOVE IT. It's my favorite spot in my house and every time I glance up I'm reminded of a quote, a good thought, a positive moment. I can be having a bad day, but when I am surrounded by good things, I can't help but think of good things. It works for me.

Since running out of wall space for my doodles I've started painting and writing on canvases as well. I'll show you a few someday, but for now I've included some photos of my little alcove getaway. Don't be afraid to break out of your shell, people, and write on a wall if you are so inclined... it'll make you feel like a kid again!