one mama-gratitude #3

i have a mama crush. an utterly virtuous one.

it's tara. she's like a tour de force of the art of mothering. a shoo-in for the mama hall of fame.

i really don't know her that well--i'm sure, if i did, i'd have something mundane to say like, "she whips up her fantastically whimsical sewing creations one stitch at a time, like you or me". but i really only know her a little, and so i can just gush instead.

she is a wahm, and she owns this eclectic, artful, small-is-beautiful business. makes the kind of kid's stuff you remember from your own childhood, if you were the bookish, magical type. she makes these amazing velvet pants with patchwork side panels and lusciously usable mama bags. but listen to how she describes this one--

The woman who inspired this set was someone I glimpsed for just a moment--sitting windowside in a London coffeeshop, her glossy brown hair pulled back in a chignon, sipping from her mug as she looked out at the dreary, rainy day. Her clothing was chic, funky, and made from luxurious fabrics. I was inspired by her style in the face of such gloomy weather, and that, along with the designs in the fabrics of this bag, remind me of her.

now i ask you, does that not make you want to buy a "metro bag", whatever they are, whatever that particular one looks like? by the way, it was "simply sublime: cocoa brown, pale peach, sparkling aquamarine, sage green. The inner print is a swirling, stylized floral, and it is perfectly complimented by the thick cotton velvet aquamarine outer."

her blog is infinitely inspiring, of course. she is unschooling her son, which means he mostly directs his learning and she provides the opportunities and resources that will allow him to do so. i read about their projects and outings and i feel like every person on the earth deserves a mother like her--she's interested and involved and bright and energetic and positive. and yes, for you empath mamas, i am feeling a little envious. just a little.

they go to museums and walking in the woods in the rain and she's figured out how he can take a beginning astronomy course from UC Berkeley's streaming site. it seems like an idyllic learning environment and when i'm feeling in the doldrums about homeschool i check out her blog, read a few random entries, and walk away determined to put my shoulder to the wheel a little more elegantly.

that's another thing about her. she's just so classy. she looks and acts like a beautifully educated and lovely person. she's one of those moms you'd love to meet, but would feel slightly nervous about so doing.sometimes i think about particularly productive, talented people as bearing fruits. if so, tara's work, and the tiny glimpse of her life i have seen in her online sharing, is like an orchard. i get the impression that she's eating, breathing, practically swimming in talent and it's obvious how her whole life, and everyone in it, is sustained by it.

i'm grateful for her. she reminds me that despite the drudgery that life at home, mothering, can sometimes seem--what with its thousand thankless tasks, the Sisyphean work of keeping the relationships in a family growing and healthy, and the difficulty of always being the one who keeps it together, no matter what--this life always, also, holds the seeds of what we need to truly flourish. and look elegant doing it.