Author: Andy Smallman

Be remarkable, yes indeed. That’s the theme I offered this week in my ongoing kindness class. Then I found this picture of Ella from 1999. She’s two years-old, and pretty darn remarkable. She had been doing some painting, watercolors as I recall, and then used her brushes and the dirty water to paint/dye her hands and forearms. She’s wearing a PSCS t-shirt, also stained from the painting. But if you were to ask Melinda, you want to know the most remarkable thing about Ella in this picture?

Yes, it’s her shoes. Saddle shoes. And fine looking saddle shoes, they are.

In terms of being remarkable, the idea is to do the small things in a way that will have someone with whom you come in contact want to talk about you around his dinner table. So go on now. Talk about Ella.

Today’s Prompt: Who did you see today that was remarkable?

Tomorrow marks the start of Random Acts of Kindness Week. As many of you know, for years I’ve facilitated kindness classes, many of them taking place online. In fact, I have one taking place right now. Feel free to join in!

In support of the week I’m planning to give the concept of kindness a little more focus here this week. And I’m kicking it off by celebrating the artist with whom I’m working to illustrate the kind themes I suggest each week in the current class. He goes by the name Fish Astronaut and you can find him online. That’s how I found him, at least, and I asked if he’d do some drawings for me. What he’s produced has far exceeded my hopes and wishes.

Today’s image is one of Fish’s most recent drawings, used to illustrate the theme “Do Something Kind For Yourself.”

Today’s Prompt: Do something kind for yourself.

Take a look at this picture (click it to enlarge it)! That’s my dad, likely some time around 1950 in front of his car when his family lived briefly in California. It’s a pretty spectacular photo, I think, and it got my thinking about cars.

My first car was a 1980 Chevy Nova and it served me well for many years, all the way through college. The follow-up to that was a 1988 Mercury Tracer, a car that gained legendary status at PSCS in the 90’s. It had a 4 cylinder engine that occasionally had trouble getting up a specific hill that just happened to be an on-ramp to a freeway on which I drove a group of students each week. We used to joke about having to peddle to get it up the hill.

Truthfully, though, I really liked that car. It died a sad death, its hood flipping up and smacking the windshield one day (with a PSCS student with me). It ended up in a demolition derby. Really.

Nowadays I’m driving my dad’s car (no, not the one pictured, as much fun as that would be).

Today’s Prompt: How about you, do you have a car story?

Individuals often pose in front of a mirror, imagining themselves as rock stars. You’ve done it, right? In our family, we sometimes like to do it all together, but we set it up as a family photo shoot and imagine the best photo will be our album cover.

This picture is such a situation. The opportunity came upon us spontaneously, while waiting to catch a train in Ladysmith, British Columbia in 2007. We had no idea the train station would be abandoned and more than a little seedy. Chloe and Ella were a tad uncomfortable there, among the trash and graffiti. Melinda and her design eye saw the potential. Adding more enthusiasm than she felt, she told the girls and me, “Let’s set up the camera and pose for pictures!”

We took several and forever have a great story to tell. Part of that story involves the train slowing, not quite stopping, to allow us to get on, the conductor calling out, “C’mon!!”

Today’s Prompt: Where have you staged a family photo?

Today’s photo was taken this week a year ago in the midst of Melinda and me taking a long walk in Nantes. It’s one of the things I most miss about our year in France, going for walks. It’s not that I can’t do it in Seattle, of course. It’s just I have less time for walking.

Each weekday morning Melinda and I would ride the tram with Ella to her school and then the two of us would walk home. A couple of times a week I’d walk with Chloe to her main babysitting job, and then walk home again. I’d walk to the library, walk to the grocery store, walk to the bakery.

And beginning in January last year, when I wasn’t walking I’d go for a run.

Today’s Prompt: Do you walk? If so, where?

In the 1960’s, I was Batman. That’s me on the right in the front row (you can usually spot me in pictures because of the crazy tuft of hair dropping down the center of my forehead). Like my cape? I sure did. My best friend (Steve Frolio, there on the left, who just had a knack of looking tougher than me) & I ran around the neighborhood wearing our capes and utility belts while saving everyone from unseen dangers.

In high school some friends & I made superhero ID cards for ourselves in a graphic design class. We adopted secret superhero names (get this — I was dubbed Fruitcheeks). During our graduating year, seniors were asked to write about our future plans for inclusion in the annual. Most people talked about going to college, or getting married and having kids, or what careers they intended to have.

Me, I shared my superhero motto: “To remain a defender of all that is pure and good. Let it lead me where it may.”

Today’s Prompt: If you were a superhero, who would you be?

Platonic public kissing is much more common in France than in the U.S. Most often, there are the little pecks on each cheek, the bisous, a regular form of greeting. It takes a little getting used to, especially for stodgy Americans like me who aren’t accustomed to that level of physical closeness. Paraphrasing a founding father, “Give me a handshake or give me death.”

Okay, so maybe I got that quote a little wrong.

During our year in France, Melinda adapted to the bisous quickly and has been committed to employing it here at home. Well, at least among members of our family. I’m all for it but it requires some ongoing mindfulness from me. And with mindfulness, there’s no time like the present. I’m off to practice.

Today’s Prompt: Tell about the most recent person you kissed on the cheek.

Way back in the 80’s I dabbled at writing songs or, at least, writing song lyrics. I wrote dozens and even had some music to go with some of them. But I couldn’t play a musical instrument to save my life so my melodies went unaccompanied.

Gathering a little moxie, I took out an ad in a Seattle area music magazine and found a songwriting partner. He put music to a few of my songs and sang a couple of my melodies accompanying himself on his guitar. On one occasion, I plugged a cheap microphone into my cassette player and taped him. This song was one result.

Linked here is an online collection of songs by obscure artists I downloaded legally that you can stream. Go take a listen, contributing to my intention to support fledgling songwriters and bands.

Today’s Prompt: What have you dabbled in?

I received an email today from our good friend Bernard in Nantes, complete with a handful of photos showing the snow they are experiencing in our old neighborhood there. Of those sent, I was drawn to today’s photo as to build a snowman this size requires some serious snow. Even more dramatic, I’m taken by how the snowman’s companions, Théo, Celeste and Claire, have grown since we left Nantes. In fact, I can’t even be sure that’s Celeste (second from the right).

What do you think, does the girl second from the right look like this little girl of 18 months ago?

Today’s Prompt: Is it a true sign of aging when you are stunned by the changes in your friends’ children?

I had my hair cut earlier today, something that got me thinking about haircuts and bad hair days and things like that. It also got me hunting for this photo of my mother from the early 70’s. If I’m not mistaken, she’s wearing a wig.

My worst haircut experience was in 6th grade. The barber cut my hair so short that I went to school the next day with a stocking hat on my head (a New York Rangers stocking cap, no less). At recess a kid in class wrestled the cap off of my head and started to laugh. I socked him in the face.

Really.

Then I ran.

Today’s Prompt: What’s your worst haircut story?