Simplifying to Complexity

Written for GBE2 Week #41 "Simplicity"

Many times I've found that trying to "keep it simple" has made things more complex. Sure everything starts out simply enough, say for instance playing the piano. You start with the basic C scale, no flats, no sharps, no chords, just one note at a time. However, if the point is to play the piano decently you need to learn all the scales with sharps, flats etc. and chords and different timing and many other things that then make it a complex pursuit.

When simplifying one's life, does it not really lead to more complexity? How many politicians have left office saying that they want to get back to the basics; time with their families. Now, when has time with anyone's family, particularly your own relatives, been particularly simple. Family relationships are beyond complex and spending more time in them may enrich them, but will never make it simple.

There are those people who want to simplify their lives by getting rid of the "clutter". In many cases, such as my husband's, this means to literally get rid of junk accumulating around the homestead. Usually, in his case, this means getting rid of MY "junk" from around the homestead. Nonetheless, does removing clutter simplify things? Certainly you may have to hold an annoying and amazingly complex yard sale to rid yourself of these items, also you may find you actually did need one of the items and end up buying it again.

Is my whole thesis in this post that we can never simplify our lives? No, but it may not be as simple as it first appears.

THANKS TO Elaine Kehoe at TEA LEAVES for this award

Now to the hard part of receiving an award, coming up with seven things about myself for the world to read.  Here goes: 

1.  I am a pirate at heart and mind and enjoy doing all sorts of things.  I am also an old pirate. 

2.  Believe it or not I've been married for 37 years and spawned a beautiful, accomplished daughter, who has given us 3 great grandchildren, and my always interesting son, himself a pirate. (see RI PIRATE PLAYERS). 

3.  I've had many strange and interesting jobs over the years, not the least being my 16 years as an attorney.  I've also had some real boring ones, but always seemed to be surrounded by interesting people. 

4.  I do a lot of sort of things like:  sort of play the piano, sort of knit (see PIRATE KNITTING), sort of write and sort of get paid.  

5.  I've been sort of blogging for a few years and have met some great people and read some really nice things throughout blog challenges, GBE2, Blog Park etc.  

6.  You meet many people in 62 years, some of who are friends for a time, some drift away and some stay as friends forever.  I am lucky to have at least 3 of those friends forever (BFF), one of whom is my husband. 

7.  I have been lucky in many things and am gambling that luck continues. 

Now the good part, my nominees for this award:

Frizzy (what is your name?):  http://ibfrizzy.blogspot.com/

Mary Anne: http://www.writewrongorindifferent.com/

Beth (of course and always):  http://www.word-nerd-speaks.com/

Joyce Paull Lansky:  http://joycelansky.blogspot.com/

Jo Heroux:  http://jo-mywanderingmind.blogspot.com/

November Rain: http://bloggitwrite.blogspot.com/

Claudia Moser:  http://cnovac.blogspot.com/

Laurie Peel: http://earthdragonhealing.blogspot.com/

Langley Cornwall: http://langley-writes.blogspot.com/

Jenn Duffy-Pearson:  http://www.wine-n-chat.com/

Gill Taber:  http://mojowritin.blogspot.com/

PIRATES DON'T WORK OR VOLUNTEER!!!

Written for GBE2

 Well, this pirate has actually done both, work for pay and piles of volunteer work. As with many people, my first paying job was when I was 16 and I was a library messenger at the Providence Public Library downtown. Because I was working for a nonprofit they could pay under minimum wage at the time, lucky me. (So I was sort of volunteering). My paid jobs have gone from library messenger, secretary, medical transcriptionist, attorney, and now, sometimes I get paid for writing.

 However, some of my most interesting and fun work has been volunteer work. At 14, I was a candy striper (not the stripper you might expect from a pirate) at a local hospital. I worked in the pharmacy which was fun and made me want to be a pharmacist until I took chemistry and realized that wasn't going to happen. I came from a family that embraced volunteerism, my mother eventually becoming President of the Rhode Island YWCA. My parents took in refugees from Europe in the 1950s and did many other things pro bono, that's "attorneyspeak" for free. This stuck with me.

 While I always needed to have a paying job, I spent many interesting hours knitting hats and making meatballs for school bazaars; running fundraisers; and even was a Girl Scout Brownie leader for a year (pirates do not make good Brownie leaders!). In this period of my life with a newborn, a 5 year old and a husband overseas, I met many good friends through this "work".

 This blog is not about a pirate turned good person, (that never happened, still a pirate) but it is rather about the fact that some of the most fascinating work and people can be found in the volunteer sector. As an attorney, I did my pro bono through the bar association and elderly affairs being a guardian for people whose families were either living off them or disappeared. I enjoyed helping these folks through probate court. I also loved working with Lawyers in the Arts helping artists and creative folks with intellectual property issues. Once again I benefited the more than the clients from this work by meeting some great people and entering lives I would not have otherwise seen.

 Today, too crazy to be a lawyer any more and trying to make some money writing, i.e. retirement to some, I am back at the library. This time as a volunteer, shelving books and meeting people in our very diverse local branch. This is excellent exercise and a great way to find books you might not have thought to take out, but the pay is even lower the before, just plain 0, but the world opened by volunteering is "priceless". Or in pirate terms, that's something with ARRH  booty!