Chirpy

Mom and Dad go on their honeymoon
8 1/2 x 11
watercolour and black marker on Arches hot press paper
Barbara Muir © 2009
( another sketch for a commission. This time
Mom's a bit off, and Dad is much better.
But I love the mood. I was working on it
with such intensity, that I forgot to get away. Oh well
it's the mood I really wanted to get, and I did)

People are leery of chirpy, and I understand that if the person
who is chirpy in public, is a right meanie in private life.
But I love chirpy. I always write the word cheerful on the
board when I teach, because that's something I want all
of us to aspire to. This isn't always easy as I've said
many times before. Bad economies, sick friends and loved
ones, even the horrific news, or actual tragedies in life
make this a hard slog sometimes. But trying to go
against the urge to sink under the mire and succumb
to a great joyless blank, is part of what I think we need
to do as brave humans, and need to help others do to.

Does this matter? You bet. It matters. It matters as
much as art, love, and at least as much as money.
Chirpy. My husband has a little sparrow that sits
in our apple tree and talks to him when he has his
morning coffee on the back porch on weekends. Some
people might think that my husband is crazy to think
so, but I think the sparrow is genuinely chirpy, and
may even know that we are on his side, and helped
to save his baby. And I also think the sparrow likes
these weekend conversations.

If our cats can tell us that it's six o'clock (dinner time),
(My black cat, Timbah stands up and sharpens his
claws on my jeans to let me know the time)
and the dog can tell us that it's time for a walk, why
can't a sparrow have a friendly chat with Steven?

Turns out that chirpy people even live longer. I
am definitely going to work on it. I assure you that
doesn't mean I'm mindless. It just means that my
ultimate goal, is, and I think always has been having
fun, and chirpy is about a million times more fun that
sullen.

Have a it's-good-to-be-chirpy day.