Soul-full

By Pam Hadder

We are in that mysterious twilight time in the Canadian north - near the cusp of the winter solstice, we witness the slow degradation of day light, replaced by a familiar half-dream time that nestles between now and then.  My body responds by demanding more sleep, a slower pace, intermittent bursts of citrus-bright colour, and/or more caffeine. Canadians frequently joke about hibernation, but modern demands for working folks push toward the opposite: we fight the natural rhythms of the human body to slow down in winter.  And so my conflicted heart waxes toward the heavens, surveys the subtleties of colour, and gravitates inward to float in the dream-time place, soothed and sustained by the compelling poetry of words and sound.

I am always excited for the winter solstice – it brings us closer to the season of lights, Christmas, Kwanzaa and other holiday experiences that reinforce togetherness, cultural resilience and appreciation of our place within this living miracle. But more than this, the solstice means we are one day closer to spring!  By the end of January, the days are noticeably longer, and I feel a surge of anticipatory energy.  It is always this time of year that I receive my focus or mantra for the year ahead.  Most of the time, it just comes to me and I know immediately that it is true and meaningful.

This year is different – the interference from without seems larger,  and my personal insights are more soft-focus, nebulous, and  yet imposing like a great, old tree that I can’t quite wrap my arms around no matter how hard I try!  I feel like the messages are there, but I am not quite connecting.  My sleeping dreams have been varied and bizarre – no help there!  A few nights past I dreamed of incredible Hanukkah/Holocaust themed installations in a gallery.  An ash-grey room sparkled with fine glitter like ground marcasite, and here and there were bright jewel bits on the walls – looking closer I saw the bas-relief of Jewish family life.  It was both eerie and beautiful – it spoke to me of the survival of beauty, family and tradition amid great evil and opposition.  Another night I dreamed of wildly challenging outdoor escapades with my dearest friend, waking exhausted and questioning, “What was THAT about?” And on another occasion I was engrossed in mundane filing, sorting and admin work – a little too “widget factory” to relate to my working reality, and therefore simply crazy!  I imagine my brain doing a disk clean up and file dump – like “clean out the fridge” suppers I have been known to make for my children; it’s just doing what it can with what it has on hand!

And so I wait, expectant, hopeful, humble – maybe my mantra is merely to question or to dream?

The Mother Load

By Pam Hadder

I have picture of my two girls, my daughters, in my bathroom - 4 x 6 photos in clip frames. They are ages two and four and they are playing at the lakeside. One of the frames has been cracked - an oopsie from their pre-teen years. As I recall, I kept trying to be a Martha Stewart, but kids are hard on things, and after all, things are just things. Nonetheless, the fact that I need to update those frames niggles away at me every time I brush my teeth.  But my days are always full; without reprieve, the weeks and months fly by, and details get lost in the blur.  My Mother warned me that once you have a baby, the calendar pages fly by just like in a black and white movie. Mom didn't tell me about some things though - like when you raise your girls to be independent women, and they become those independent women, that it feels like all of it never happened. Is this the empty nest, or is this symptomatic of some undefined brokenness? 

I remember the first time those wee girls said "Mom" and "Momma" - the sheer joy of them growing and all of the "firsts." My older daughter liked to tickle my toes as I made her dinner: "Tooka, tooka, tooka, Mommy, tooka, tooka, tooka."  And my younger daughter would have spent all day in the baby sling curled into my warm body - if I had the fortitude to carry her for that duration! I feel like I should explain - I did not experience a lot of physical affection during my childhood years, and I wanted to be a different kind of parent than what I had known. I never heard the words, "I love you" from my parents; I think it wasn't considered appropriate for parents to be physically affectionate in their era, but I wanted my babies to know what it meant to be loved, completely and unconditionally - I poured out my words, my hugs, my kisses without reserve.  I did not believe in corporal punishment - I had been beaten, but I used time-outs to discipline my babies. I didn't want my kids to fear me the way I feared my Dad. But somewhere in the busy-ness of working, domestic chores, and all the stuff in between, I finished raising my girls. The butterfly kisses have disappeared like soap bubbles popping on a summer breeze; Momma is no more.

More memories... how I dressed the girls alike, fussed with their hair, read Fox in Sox until my tongue felt numb and worked at crappy jobs so I could spend as much time as possible with them. I remember knitting little sweaters as I dutifully attended Super Bowl parties with their Dad, sewing Halloween costumes in a cold corner of the basement, and falling asleep beside them when singing "I See the Moon" at bed time.  I remember all of the busy mornings, feeding bathing, dressing, playing, reading, walking/hauling, and repeat. The baby powder, the dear little hands holding mine, the raspberry kisses on soft tummies, the tickles.  I remember walking them to school, making brown paper lunch bags with a new doodle for every day, and sweating with anxiety as I walked home from work to pick them up from after school care - oh my God, I always felt guilty because it was sunny outside and they were in the basement of an old school.  How my feet, back and legs hurt from standing all day, how I lost sleep to catch up on laundry and cleaning, and how I fell worthless and powerless because I was always financially strapped. Their childhood was an intense time for me, but I tried to shield them from my struggles and fears. I wanted them to have a better life, more opportunities and more happiness than I had known. But so much of the time I was isolated by the sheer volume of what had to be done, and my fear of what would happen if I tried to change the pattern, let myself emerge from the automaton I had created to manage it all.

At some point the 24/7 care of our children is over, and their friends become closer connections, and the seeds of independence bear fruit - and it may not be a fruit you have ever tasted before. I suppose that a Mother becomes symbolic of everything they are not/don't want to be, and something they can't relate to. So, I suppose I have succeeded: they will be better, they will be different from the imperfect, frightened, ignorant, idealist that was Momma. I have tried to organize girls' outings but their young lives are full and focused on things of which I have only sketchy glimpses. Occasionally they let me buy them a meal.  My younger daughter regales me with stories of how great her friends' Moms are, and my older daughter is a mystery who keeps her communications superficial. I have finally connected the dots, and the image is an unrelatable construct of female parenthood, rather like the female symbol on a washroom entrance. 

So, when we have dinner together, I savour each moment, always hopeful that some trickle of the love that I poured into them will emerge, will morph into this amazing, positive thing that makes their eyes mist over, that makes them remember everything that was Momma - that some little piece of what I did is worthy of their time and memory. But they could be talking to someone on a bus - a random stranger to whom they extend courtesy for  few minutes. I inhale and exhale and drink in their beauty, grateful that at least they will sit and eat with me, grateful for this moment; grateful that I knew motherhood. A perennial optimist, I know I will keep trying, will keep revisiting my memories, and will keep returning to face their rebuffs; their thinly veiled contempt or worse - ambivalence.

My birthday is in July, and this year I was away with my job - it was a special time because it was the first time since I was 14 that I have had a whole month away from work. I had some work commitments, but it was combined with travel in some of the most beautiful areas of Tuscany, Italy.  The whole time I was accessible by email, text and phone. I don't like a fuss, but I do love my children and I have tried to raise them to be mindful of life's milestones - their birthdays were always celebrated; sometimes two or three times to accommodate the demands of family, in-laws and their own school friends. But this birthday passed with no cards, no calls, no texts - nothing. When I got home from my trip, my younger daughter was fussing over buying a card and gift for her former boss (an alcoholic chain smoker about who she constantly complained to me about). At this point, it hit me with painful clarity that Mom, Mommy, Momma was dead - I was just this image, this memory.  

All of the hugs, the sweat, the fears, the work, the tears, the sleeplessness became meaningless in this context. I had to face that it was quite likely that I would never have daughters who called me "just because," or because they wanted to hear my voice, or simply to see how I am doing. Momma was a station along their way, and even the vile former boss now ranked higher. DNA is just DNA, and all of our good intentions are just thoughts, after all. I stretch the pale skin of my lower belly as I shower and trace a soapy finger over the fine white scars.  Yes, this body delivered three babies into the world and gave one baby to the angels, it is a good baby maker and has the marks to prove it's use, and yet it could be any baby maker. My body bears witness to the signs that only one person cares about.

My son is 13 - he still holds my hand and tells me he loves me.  He still talks to me - not just to ask for something or because he needs something. Pinch me; will this time be different, or have I just forgotten these moments with my girls? He is such a sweet child and I fear for him in this world of violence, excess and indifference - most of all, I pray, "Please don't take his love from me." My friends tell me I am a good mother, but because I was cut off from my friends and family for so many years, I have a very small circle of friends - I sometimes worry that "Friend" may go the way of "Momma." I  look through a another sampling of old photos in the bill basket, and they don't feel like they belong to me. I see my old, worn gym hoody has fallen off the door hook again - I look down on it and imagine that is who I am to my girls: a dead grey shell, a husk of some creature that used to exist but is no more. I pick it up and smell the soft cotton - it smells like baby powder.

So Many Reasons

By Pam Hadder

What is it about certain numbers – why do we find some numbers to be significant, and we allow others to escape our notice?  A 25^th anniversary, the seven-year itch, five-year plans –and what of lucky numbers?  Personally I don’t believe in luck; nor do I support the celebration of life in pre-determined, generic increments.  All we have is this moment, this breath, this heartbeat, and why shouldn't every action and word be considered through that lens of precarious glory?

We are beautifully and remarkably made, we have such amazing potential – we are each comprised of incredible, immortal energy captured for a fleeting moment in human form.  It is a very big deal; exceptional and precious – yet all the while, we are herded, prodded into preoccupations of daily survival, of the mundane, of the expected.  We become disconnected from our glorious nature; our inextricable connection to the divine; the sublime.

This year a beloved, influential person in my life is having a "milestone birthday," which has made me think long and hard about human preoccupation with numbers, the order of things, labeling, organizing, and other trivial categorizations of splendid human potential.   My beautiful friend is having mixed feelings about the pending occasion, and doesn't want any fuss.  I get that, however, I want to celebrate the moment to its fullest extent – not because I am bound to tradition or societal expectations, but because I recognize and wish to acknowledge the importance of her unique spirit’s arrival in this physical realm. On a spring day, a number of years past, she was born into this life and embarked on a journey that eventually intersected with (and super-charged!) my own modest meanderings.  By her unique influence, she has made my life richer, brighter, more beautiful and deeply joyous – she is richly blessed with wisdom, humour, spontaneity, passion for life and charismatic presence. She possesses an intriguing, intoxicating effervescence that cannot be cultivated, but she presents these extraordinary gifts with remarkable humility and selflessness.

And so, dearest FC, for you alone – if numbers must prevail and hold significance – then let it be that with each passing minute, hour, week, month and year, that we recognize another aspect of our earthly self that is to be honoured and cherished.  I know it’s pretty easy to think of thirty or forty reasons that I adore you, my dearest, sweet, kind friend!

That Happy Thing :)

by Pam Hadder

We hear a lot about HAPPY - not necessarily in a direct way... But all of the complaining, self-absorption, dialogue about sex, sensation, shopping, acquiring etc. it's really about what makes us happy; why it's hard to be happy; that possibility that happy is just a metaphysical illusion; all that gobbledygook about the funny chemicals in our bodies that give us that euphoric sensation, and so on. Happy shouldn't be so complicated, should it?  Or at least that is what my gut tells me. My gut also tells me that we shouldn't have to analyse the crap out of happy, we should just "be" and enjoy what comes naturally (smart gut - not always such a smart person, however lol!).  

The daily actions of human survival require interacting with others, and this tends to complicate the happy equation.  I can only speak for myself - I am at heart an introvert, but yet I delight in people and our diversity. I recognize that I cherish and I am inspired by those small, special bursts of light when I enjoy loving, refined, joyous aspects of human connection. You should know that it takes tremendous effort and personal energy for me to step outside of my hard shell and extend myself to others - to make the first move - it's hard work for me; a constant tug-o-war.  Even when I do it - smile, make small talk and so on, my resolutely sequestered inner self monitors it all warily with a dash of mocking cynicism: "What exactly are you playing at, Pami?" And yet, I am not truly happy unless I can interact on a personal, human level, so I continue to nudge against the walls of my perennial awkwardness - striving for that authentic moment that brings me closer to HAPPY.

When I consider the effects of technology on folks like me, it really is a double-edged sword - we have this virtual vista, a means of extending ourselves to make connections with like-minded others, or to discover new ways of looking at life and the world.  On the other side, technology cannot replace looking into another person's face, a shared laugh, or just being together and appreciating an experience - such as nature/scenery, music, art, great food and so on.

And, of course, there is the aspect of the personal cultivation of happiness - I believe that HAPPY truly starts within us - introvert or extrovert, we need to nourish this little seed, to propagate the happy self possibility. And when we choose to be happy, to see the positive, to take a chance, to hope for the best in all things, we all know that we open our tender hearts for great darkness: rejection, for negativity, for all kinds of backlash. Happy is not for the feint of heart - no wonder we get pushed off the happy trail sometimes! 

I think the trick is just to choose happy regardless, and to not take the naysayers and bashers (and so on...) personally.  Choose happy because it feels right and it energizes you, and it puts you in the best position to enjoy all that life offers.

Queer Divine Satisfaction

By Pam Hadder

There is vitality, a life force, energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open…No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.” 

– Martha Graham

The more I experience in life and the more I learn and open myself to expression, the more I recognize how truly remarkable the moments of true connection are.  Through music, academic study, visual art and the written word, I am working to understand my place, my identity, my gifts – and I recognize that this all is part of a profound yearning to connect with my personal purpose. I have always been independent – I made the choices I made based on my internal cues, and resisted external pressures, peer pressures.  As a result of non-conformity, I have been an outsider; including within my own life – a voiceless and formless observer, lonely in crowded places, and ever-searching.I have also been malleable, naïve; constrained and framed by pre-existing external and environmental structures which (constantly, consistently, persistently) told me who I was, who I could be, what was good and bad, what was right and wrong – although I resisted internally, and also externally at times, I cannot deny that I was shaped and guided by these forces. The result was a construct, a false “self” which housed/contained/imprisoned the authentic person.

At this moment I am working on a paintings and sculpture series for a course in colonizing/decolonizing art and visual culture. Through this work, combined with other coursework I have been able to emerge from the false self – reborn into understanding, awareness, while breaking free of colonized controls.  And so, I am a very young child with new, inquiring eyes and hands; finding my way, playing, trying new things.  I find myself looking at spaces and places that seem unfamiliar.  Everything is new, curious, re-framed – the good and the bad, what it means to love, what it means to be “woman.”  And my art waits patiently, endures and forgives, while I work intuitively to express with layers of paint, with melted bits of recycled water bottles, with words strung together –haphazard ebullience.

What surprises me the most is not the level and complexity of emotions elicited by this journey, but how it has enhanced my feelings of “being without space or place” and “being out of sync with time.”  I followed this path seeking affirmation, knowledge, yes, but a comforting kind of “yes, Darling.”  I never banked on this upheaval, this brilliance, this revelation, this beauty, this sorrow, this exhaustion, this exhilaration. My spirit blazes, blinding white, tireless and spontaneous, but my mature adult physiology is at odds with that inner reality.  I now understand why I am driven toward learning new languages: music, academic/feminist, artistic/visual, cultural – my spirit has reached this critical mass of tolerance.  It is weary of being suppressed, its incarceration has been served – it pleads, it shouts “let me speak!”  Most often I am half-terrified, thrust out of my cell, my virtual and actual life prison, and sometimes I want to scream - “Hello, hello, can anybody hear me in here; out there?” But I tell myself – “keep going; fight the good fight; it’s all related somewhere, there is an ending place, a place of intersection, a crossroads where all will be realized.”  And on the other hand, I rationalize, that learning has no end, it only expands one’s field of vision, one’s reference and reveals  more bread crumbs of unknowing.

So at this moment, I struggle, I am thankful, I doubt myself, I weep, I laugh, I question, I am silent – it’s all about trying to communicate with my authentic self.  There is an awful lot of failing, failing, failing – there is no room for an over-stuffed ego.  And sleep holds no escape; I have nightmares about Tinkerbell and other free-flowing odd themes – the spirited child bucks and rollicks in a woman’s body and mind, a wild maestro of sorts assembling and commanding the unforeseen, the unimagined – I mean, good God; what am I?   When my mind is numb from thinking and stimulation, and when my body is absolutely fatigued, I tire of disappointment, I tire of trying to connect, I tire of trying to make the best out of whatever scraps the wheel of life throws my way.  I am my comfort and my playmate – a woman, being led along an uncertain path by a precocious, dancing child – slightly out of step, and definitely in the wrong space and time.  Such as it is, this is my authentic space and time; this is my authentic self.

The Way I Roll

by Pam Hadder

It's that time of year.  March is this pot hole in the road of life; a seriously deep axle breaker on a seemingly endless stretch of rough, blah, bleak and ugh.  At least that's the case here in the heart of Canada! And if you live here, or have visited Winnipeg in the spring, your teeth and bones will ache at the memory of our pitted and pocked streets and roads!

My dearest FC calls March "high recall time. "Why "high recall?"  Well, it seems like this is the time of year when a lot of people pass on.  Personally, I lost both my Dad and my young niece in March, and it seems appropriate somehow, that this month is devoid of beauty - a sullen, slow-moving lunk, it lurks and sulks, unable to express any joy and threatening to steal our moments of happiness. This year March has been marked by the death of Canadian folk music icon, Stompin' Tom Connors - his honesty and kindness and patriotism always touched my heart.  He was like this uncle, a favourite that could always make you see the bright side of things, and who would steer you toward what really mattered in life.  A good man.

A dreamer, I  get through March by over-compensating, by stoking the brilliant coloured fires of my fantasy world. I am restless, yet drowsy; thirsty for the outdoors, and yet languid; lounging like I am hospitalized.  Bright colour, new tastes and textures; the sensory and the sensual - these are my cure; my self-prescribed course of treatment.  My senses are all set on high to filter every molecule of goodness and beauty out of the stark, cold, grey landscape of mourning. My mind is jumping, antsy, sparking -I am building, making plans; analyzing - I can close my eyes and smell the snow melting and I hear the first rain storm rumbling in the distance.  I have wings, I am rising, I am dancing on the ashes of March - bright brush strokes of azure, pink, violet.

Seeing Spots

By Pam Hadder

It's that time of the year - winter is encroaching, cramping my style. I feel myself fading and drifting off, like a dry leaf on a river current.

I came across this vintage photo online this week, and was entranced.  The glamorous woman with a pet cheetah - over-the-top, curious...staged for a vintage ad, or real??? Imagine the folly, the sheer irresponsibility of keeping this magnificent cat as an urban "pet" - crazy stuff.  So why did this image draw me in? It had such strong appeal and I wondered why.  The more I thought about it, I realized that I saw myself reflected in both the woman and the tethered cheetah.  

Like that poor cat, these days I feel trapped by circumstance and the weather. I want to get loose and run for the hills - warm hills, that is!  And like the woman in this photo, I find myself zoning out, shopping, tidying, arranging, procrastinating - disconnected and dreaming of the summer months that seem too far away; will they ever arrive? Escapism, internalized emotion, longing for a different reality. It's too quiet, too claustrophobic and I want to scream at the top of my lungs just to know that I still have a voice and some passion - a wild feline yowl complete with flashing green eyes and bristling fur! I wonder how that spectacular tantrum would go over in most spaces? Likely not too terribly well, but it makes me smile inside to think about it (see, there I go again, hiding out within - a sullen child making a blanket fort with clothes and furniture).

One positive sign - albeit rather surreal, considering the raw, face-ripping temperatures... I saw a robin at the university this week.  I honestly had to do a double take.  It was Valentine's Day, and I joked with the dude sitting beside me that perhaps it was a sparrow wearing red for his sweetheart :) 

It's great that I have my coursework to push my mind and energies outside of its selfish, snow-drifted, ice-packed February pathways. It forces me to generate a little friction with my mental muscle when all I want to do is pack it in, cover myself in polar fleece and bed clothes and hunker indoors until it is spring.

Today when I played guitar, I closed my eyes and let my mind drift forward into the future. I just enjoyed the sound of my instrument and the way the strings felt as I plucked, strummed, cajoled - and suddenly there it was, a cool breeze swirling around my bare feet. I could hear the wind chimes wildly clanging outside on the patio - was that the smell of hail in the air; a spring storm?

No, it was too cold - frigid, meat locker-esque; I felt my sad little dream bubble burst.  I placed Pearl carefully on her stand and followed the cold trail, wishing I'd put on my moccasins.  Had the blizzard ripped the roof off my little house?  

Aha...mystery solved... my son left his bedroom window open!  OMG... with -30 Celsius temperatures and howling winds - he opened his bedroom window wide, and went outside to play with his pals.

Tonight when I am burrito-wrapped in my heated bed, perhaps I will dream of the cheetah. I'll break free of my leash and run in sun-burnished fields, pausing to lap sweet water from glassy pools, and soaking up the natural glory of the day.