Embrace the Mess

I had to take a photo of this palette the other day -- Flanna was
making grey, but wasn't it beautiful in the process?

Flannery just started taking art, which I think I am as excited about as she is.  I love watching her create things, and seeing her pride when she's worked hard at a piece.  She's just the most excellent artist.  She can draw and sculpt so many things just by imagining them in her head.  I'm the kind of person who has to look at a picture of something to draw it just right, but she can just visualize things.  (When she was 5, she made a polar bear, with excellent dimensions and features, out of modeling clay with no model or picture to even look at--it was amazing.)

Anyway, it was so funny as I picked her up from art class yesterday--she was scrubbing her hands with soap, and they remained covered in black marker no matter how much she washed.  So finally, I decided we should just embrace the mess.  "You're an artist," I shrugged, "Artists get messy."

She smiled, wiped her hands on the front of her shirt, and lunged out the art room door to go pet a wet dog that was waiting for its owner.  

I guess if I embrace the art mess, I can handle the smelly wet dog mess, too.  Because, really, those were the best, most pure moments of joy in our whole day yesterday!  (Oh, besides her jumping in a puddle in her rain boots!)



What messes can you make up your mind to embrace in the spirit of adding joy to your life?