We are all dancing on the Titanic.

 

This is me on The Knorr, a beautiful research vessel at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, made famous when the scientist, Bob Ballard discovered the Titanic at the bottom of the sea.

When my husband was a scientist at Woods Hole, I had the great good fortune to be invited for an eight day research trip into the Gulf of Maine.   My title--Blogger at Sea.  This was back in 2013 when the idea of being a blogger/influencer was very, very new and honestly felt a little silly.  I couldn't help but laugh every time I mentioned it to anyone.  Plus there was the title:  A Girl's Guide to Climate Change.

Still, in my heart of hearts, I felt I was doing important work by calling attention to the dangers of warming sea waters to a whole new population--readers who cared about all things French, perfume, lingerie, and yes, the future of oysters and seaside summer vacances.

As you might know, Papa Callan was a true-blue Navy Man.  And so, before the trip, I arranged a visit to the Knorr for him, and he got to walk up and down the ship and ask the captain and crew lots of questions that only a Navy Man would think to ask.  I knew that my voyage out to sea with all those salty scientists and their manly equipment would make him very proud of me.  And you know what?  It did.

Sadly, after my travels on the Knorr, my computer crashed and I lost all my photos.  In fact, I had to lift this photo from my original blog.  Nonetheless, I took hundreds of photos during the eight days.  And now, they are all gone, sitting somewhere at the bottom of the sea--just like the Titanic.

Just kidding.

But they are gone.

Creative friends--at any moment the floor can open up and swallow us.  The rug can be pulled out from beneath us.  And yes, a giant iceberg can arrive and rip our ship apart.  Metaphorically, speaking, that is.

The answer?

Yes, make art. Take photographs.  Write and paint and dance and sing.  But do all this with the knowledge that eventually, your ship will go down. 

This will keep you from taking yourself too seriously.  

Truth is, we are all dancing on the Titanic every moment of our lives.  My advice--listen to the music and go ahead and dance.  And finally, in the words of Papa Callan, have fun.

Love,

Jamie