I have loved to draw for as long as I can remember.

Seriously, it is one of my first memories. Coloring, drawing, having a writing utensil in hand and a fresh clean piece of paper before me. Yes. As long as I can remember.

Coloring books were okay. But I always like to draw other things on the coloring page. Change the scene up a bit… or add a thing or two.

Drawing was an adventure for me. There were scenarios to create, characters to meet, and worlds to explore.

Yet there comes a time in our lives when our society tells us it was a waste of time. We should quit “frittering away our day” and put our energy to more important studies, such as math, and reading, and science.

But to my little mind… it just seemed like an extension of me A must-do.

Yet. I put it aside.
I’ve never thought I was good enough to “squander” any serious time on drawing. But those notions are embedded deep within.

I can’t remember who first told me that crayons were childish, and drawing was an activity for little children.

But I do know this. In second grade, we had big pieces of paper which were taped on the blackboard. Before homeroom, or if we got back in early from recess, we could draw on those pages. On day I drew a funny little bearded guy, and I was so proud of him. Like any young budding artist, I signed it. Just “Polly Kronenberger” and I pointed an arrow from my signature to the comical rendition. I was seven.

Well, a kid named Mark Wolfenbarger started making fun of me. He said that little drawing was a picture of ME. Little Marky Mark chided me about how I looked ugly…just like my little beard-and-mustache-guy. I had about enough self-esteem to fill a thimble. I bought into all of it.  And…. I was mortified.

I didn’t draw for a long, long time after that.

But time passes. These days…. I just do it because I love it. And it feels right. It feels natural and good to draw and doodle. And it happens when it happens.

I am, after all… Polly Wolly Doodle All the Day. It only seems right.

I guess the moral of the story is that if I love something, I should probably do it. Nevermind that I may not be very good at it… or will never have any measured societal successes as a result.

Those two things don’t matter. What matters to each of us, I think, is doing what is right for our hearts. And the rest will follow.

“Every human has four endowments – self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom… The power to choose, to respond, to change.” – Stephen Covey

“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.: – Erich Fromm

“The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.”  –  Buddha