There is someone I want you to know. Someone who is one of the most creative, brave and gifted beyond measure in her way with words. She’s a best-selling author and her name is Amy Krouse Rosenthal. I first discovered Amy because her cleverly written journal ‘Your Birthday Book’ became a tradition that I filled out with the kids each year. Little did I know it was the same person when I stumbled across ‘The Beckoning of Lovely.’ If you haven’t seen this video, please push play above. It will make you smile and then you’ll want to watch it 100 more times. It was then that I instantly fell in love with Amy and her love of making things {and only later discovered that I asked her brother to a date party in college!}.
As I was planning the first Makerie in 2011, I thought how incredible it would be to have Amy speak at our opening night, so I emailed her out of the blue to ask. She {herself} actually emailed back. I couldn’t believe it. I had no idea what I was doing or how much you pay a best-selling author to speak, but she wanted to be part of it. You can’t even imagine my elation. The timing wasn’t great for her, as she was on a family vacation in Hawaii, but she still wanted to find a way to make it work. This was her email to me, and I share it in the spirit of showing you how magical she is with her words. And this is JUST an email!
…………..
hey Ali!
I had this idea today, about how to really make this thing work for us this year. Because I'd really like to...make this work, that is. But I know there are all sorts of moving pieces, on top of the fact that the dates are not super ideal for me. But like most things (I wish all things), I think there is a solution looming.
What if we add a touch of digital 2011-ness and do a skype video chat/presentation...about creating and thinking out of the box and pushing ourselves in new fun ways... we can call it "THE SKYPE'S THE LIMIT"
This way, we don't have any travel conflict issues (or costs). And we could settle on a waaaaaaaay reduced fee.
Overall, it would be a less pressured and very viable way of making a collaboration happen this year... and then we can visit a full on visit for your next Makerie (next year?)
What I also like about this is...we're following one of the messages in The Beckoning of Lovely... "MAKE DUE WITH WHAT YOU HAVE."
come to think of it, we could even call our skype presentation chat just that...
MAKE SOMETHING PRETTY.
MAKE DUE WITH WHAT YOU HAVE.
THE MAKERIE 2011.
What do you think?
oh, and I noticed today when i was abbreviating my blog Mission Amy KR (for the first time) that the initials are MAKR. as in maker. kinda love that.
yours,
amy
…………..
Amy was a treasured part of that first retreat {all the way from Hawaii!} and a beautiful part of the Makerie story. I am sharing this with you because I just learned the devastating news that Amy is dying of ovarian cancer. She wrote one last essay, a dating profile about her husband so he can write a new love story of his own. Her words are as magical as ever.
Amy, I want you to know what an enormous inspiration you have always been to me and will always be. You never let an idea fly away from you, you always followed your heart and you never ever missed a chance to create a meaningful human connection. Thank you for believing in the Makerie in the very beginning, which helped me believe in myself. I am heartbroken but feel so lucky to have been touched by your gifts and for our Makerie family to have had the precious chance to experience your magic for themselves. The world is an absolutely better place because of you and I will never ever look at a yellow umbrella without thinking of you. You epitomize the human spirit. Thank you. You lived your own advice in an immeasurable way. You made the very most of your time here.
