Papa Callan's birthday

Papa Callan's birthday is coming up in just a few days. He would have been 99 years old. It will be a quiet day. And a bit sad. In the past, I threw some fairly big parties for Papa Callan, but there were also lots of low-key birthdays. Papa Callan didn't really like a whole lot of fuss. He enjoyed simple pleasures. His favorite restaurant was a very modest diner in Milford called Maxime's. 

That's where this photo was taken.

Papa Callan liked pancakes with maple syrup, orange juice and coffee. Oh, and he liked flirting with the waitress. You would have thought that he had just won the lottery when she asked us if we wanted her to refill our coffee cups  because Papa Callan would react with so much enthusiasm--Oh, you are so nice! Yes, thank you! I would love more coffee!

In fact, whenever anything nice happened--no matter how insignificant, no matter how routine, for Papa Callan it was always the very first time.  And people responded to him with delight. There was not one instance when someone reacted to my father's excitement and said oh, get over it! It's just coffee!

Creative Friends--if you approach whatever life brings you as if it's the very first time--well, then even the exhausted, ennui-filled waitress at the local diner, will be transformed by the light of your very presence. This is because, like Papa Callan, you are living in The Land of Surprise. And your joy and enthusiasm will proliferate as you move through the world.

Whether you realize it or not, as a creative person, you possess the power to be a shamanic healer.

My creative prompt for this week is to embrace this power. And then wait and delight in how you change the world for the better.

As always, have fun.

Love, 

Jamie