Mo Willems gifts us with his thoughts on creativity and joy.
Artist, children’s author, and the Kennedy Center’s first Education Artist in Residence Mo Willems offers us something transformative — the inspiration to go get a “…shame-ectomy so we can start yelling and screaming and jumping up and down….” just like young children do.
I remember how my toddler son laughed as he ran around the back yard yelling “Aaah-aah-aah,” at the top of his lungs. He was having such a grand time! One afternoon, neighbors and self-consciousness be damned, I wanted to find out what it felt like to run and yell like that.
I ran behind my son, imitating him, looking up toward the sky, holding my arms out as wide as I could, aaah-aaah-aaahing with all my might. An immediate joyful, loving expansiveness replaced all else in my consciousness. My son had just gifted me with a shame-ectomy, and it was wonderful!
May your holidays and the year to come be a time of love, joy and creativity.
Nancy, I am so grateful you shared each aspect of this: your experience with your son, the concept of a “shame-ectomy” and an introduction to Mo Willems. I wish I had known of his work when Samuel was little. The pigeon book came out when he was 2 so it would have been perfect for the six-year-old Samuel. 🙂 I will buy some copies for myself and perhaps for my neighbors…. or for me to read aloud to my neighbors.
Julie, thank you for reading! I so appreciate your comments. I wish I’d known about Mo Willems a long time ago. Now I’m looking forward to sharing his books with my granddaughter. 🙂 Enjoy his books for yourself, and maybe reading them aloud to your neighbors!