The Creative Nest

I have a favorite pen. There, I said it. Not a fancy pen. Not one of those expensive pens that comes in a beautiful box and makes you feel like you should be signing important contracts with it. Nope. Mine is a blue Bic pen. And I am apparently very loyal to it. My favorite pen is almost always blue. Every once in a great while, I'll grab a red one, but that's basically my rebellious phase. Most of the time, I want that nice, dependable blue ink. There is just something about a good Bic pen. It writes when you need it to write. It doesn't require a special ceremony. You don't have to shake it seventeen times and scribble on a piece of scrap paper before it decides whether it wants to participate. You pick it up, you write, and it works. That's the kind of relationship I appreciate. And yet, somehow, pens have become one of those things that I apparently have strong opinions about. I'll happily use a random pen if I have to. I'm not unreasonable. But if I hav...

How do you comfort someone who is hurting when you can’t take the hurt away? I’ve been thinking about that question lately. Not the kind of hurt that comes from a scraped knee or a bad day at work, but the deeper kind. The kind that changes someone’s world and leaves a person confused, frightened, sad, or simply unable to understand why things have to be the way they are. Sometimes the hardest part is watching someone you care about struggle with a change they don't fully understand. They may know that something is different, but they may not understand why it had to happen or why things can't simply go back to the way they were. They may feel like something has been taken away from them without anyone explaining it in a way that makes sense to them. And even when there are reasons behind the change—good reasons, necessary reasons, reasons that are ultimately meant to protect them or make life better—you still have to watch them experience the loss. And what do you say to that?...

I have recently decided that I need a hobby. Not because I don’t have enough things to do. Quite the opposite, actually. I have plenty of things to do. I simply seem to have reached a point in life where I feel like I should have something I do purely because I enjoy doing it. You know… a hobby. Something fun. Something creative. Something that doesn’t involve a computer, a spreadsheet, an email, or somebody asking me if I’ve had a chance to look at something yet. This seemed like a fairly harmless idea. It was not. Because apparently, finding a hobby is not as simple as thinking, “Knitting looks fun. I’ll try knitting.” No. First, you have to research knitting. Then you discover knitting machines. Then you discover there are different knitting machines. Then you discover some knitting machines make tubes and some make flat panels. Then you discover different types of yarn. Then you discover that certain yarns work better with certain machines. Then you watch a woman on YouTube make an...