Do You Want to be Known?

Do you want to be known? Do you want to be recognized? Or do you want to just live your life? Do you want to sit and eat, not thinking of how you look while you enjoy your cheap wine and fries and watch the crazy guys pass you a hundred times doing wheelies, there, while everyone watches them go by and secretly wonders if those motorcycle riders will crash and roll and if we'll see their body parts bend and tuck and twist on the asphalt?  And if it did happen, would you blame the guys for forever altering your psyche? For forever altering your being because you saw someone do a wheelie and crash there on the Pacific Coast Highway blacktop while you sipped cheap wine and munched on fries and now you can't wipe it out of your mind?

What would you do? What would you do if you had a of couple choices, or maybe just one, or maybe three? Would you want to be known as a student of the Stitch? How about an artist-type, you know, a visionary, but one that could be fleeting?  What about a crafty girl who can stick to it? Or would you be happy with Mom and Happy Husband, one Child, a dog named Chuck, a cat named The Bunny and a (new) Fish named Myrtle?

Or none of the above?

But I do love to knit. And I do know that what I just wrote doesn't make much sense. This weekend was one of those Odyssey weekends with a wild Girlfriend on the Verge of Potty and no naps. I've also been battling a neckline  for a sweater I'm designing that can only be described as Ripped Out a Few Times Too Many to be Perfect...so there you go.

But in our real life, we found ourselves on the beach in Malibu today after a dirty, greasy lunch among the "biker types" and a cheap-ish bottle of wine (which equals heaven, I tell you--well, at least if you have some fried calamari or some steamed crab to accompany), and decided to hit the sand on the way home with my bamboo yarn and the still undecided "Is it a Scarf or a Headband Thing."

So I was there, posing like all get out and after Girlfriend nearly drowned in an unexpected wave, a woman laying there in the sand hailed me over. The waves were crashing.

Her: "Mhhm.. nhmm?" (Her hands making motions. I couldn't hear her.)

Me: "Huh? What did you say?"...and walking over.

Her: "Mhjmmm.?" (Hands making more motions.)

Me: (Thinking: Oh! She's deaf! She's asking me if I know sign-language! I do! I do!)...So I sign to her: *Hi! How are you? Is everything okay?*

Her: "Heh? I was just asking you: Do you knit?"

Me: (Pulling the needles and the Bamboo out of my pocket and feeling like an idiot about the signing thing) "Yeah!"

Her: "I just knit a table cloth and the woman, she pay me $300.00 for it!"

Me: Wow! That's great; that's more than I could make, knitting a table cloth. I mean, no one would pay me to knit a table cloth first of all, because, well, there's too much thinking involved and I'd make these terrible mistakes and it would probably take forever, because I don't really do lace all that much. You must have the patience of...well, you know, a Saint who has patience! Can't think of one off the top of my head. But I'm impressed. Three hundy? Woah, baby!. You must be quite the talent!"

Her: "...Eh. I knit to relax."

Comments

[jennifer]

ok, so either i read too quickly or no one's mentioned it - what's with the guy on the beach with the blue ellipse around him? that's not HWWV, or is it? do tell - littel details in pics always get me. and congrats on the IK gig!

[Wendy]

it's the woman who knit the tablecloth...

[john]

Um, ok. So, like..the glasses ROCK. You my biotch. Ms. Pillow is on the way. She wouldn't let me keep her. We had a small spat at the last minute and she growled at me and said, "I'd rather live with Wendy ANYWAY!"

[keohinani]

i like it better when people recognize me for something i'm proud of doing than something embarrassing that i totally forgot i ever did.
in high school, i was training with a couple of coaches at a high school...just me and maybe three other guys. one of the coaches was an all-american wrestler that came down for a month to visit his parents and show us technique. at one point, they said dancing was great for conditioning, and so they had us dance for like, five minutes. they said all we had to do was keep moving and we could jump around and do whatever we wanted so long as we were good and sweaty at the end. so we did. we didn't know that the coach was filming the whole practice. so imagine how surprised i was when several kids from that high school came up to me a couple of years later and said "hey, you're that dancing girl! our coach shows us that training video every year!" yeah. i'll take random knitter in public over that any day, thanks.

[Lesli]

Love the post today! and I just had to say, Your hair looks fabulous!! Congrats on the pattern for the Interweave book!

[Tammy]

Can I ask what HWWW stands for? I know it refers to hubby but what do the initials mean?

[Smuddpie]

This is something I've been pondering for the past several months. We know many people whose lives have been very...eventful, I guess you'd say. DH and I have decided boring is good. I like knowing he'll be there every day, I like knowing what to expect from my daughter's school, what I will find at home, that my son's feet will hit the floor running every day. I like even keel living. I want to be known, but definitely not famous. I am a familiar and friendly face to many, but am really known by a small number. I want to be known to my husband and children as great wife, and mom (a tall order there!), a caring and fun person to my friends, a devoted servant to Jesus (taller order) and an encourager to those I merely bump into. You know, one of those people who says just the thing you needed to hear. I want to speak God's truth into people's hearts, even if I never see the result of it in this lifetime. I want to do a small kindness that means so much to someone without my even realizing it.

I think anonymity in general is a bad thing. God created us with an intense need to love and be loved. But we are also capable of terrible things, and are much more prone to do them if we think we won't be found out.

Probably TMI, but you asked....

[Wendy]

He Who Wears Versace

[john]

Hello!! Did I miss something? IK is putting you on stage???!!? About time.

[Wendy]

It's just a pattern in one of their books!!!! (I'm excited, naturally!)

[Gaile]

I don't think I could handle being recognized everywhere I went, so a certain degree of anonymity (in my mind) is a good thing. Do I want to be recognized? Only for my achievements, far less for what I perceive as my failings. Sunshine, cheap wine and steamed crab are a winning combo in my book. The most interesting thing about this post was the photos and recognizing your daughter's face in your profile! Hair colours may differ but Girlfriend is a definite reflection of her Mom.

[heather]

I think you know my answer to that.
That lady you spoke of? She looks like she fell and can't get up. heh.

The motorcycles are the husband's thing. He watches that stuff all weekend, dreaming.

I am coveting your shades. Ooooo.....

[Wendy]

The shades? A gift from you-know-who...the most stylish straight husband on earth.

[Wendy]

...and they're prescription!