Making One's Mark

 

 

 

“How satisfying tit is to leave a mark on a blank surface.  To make a map of my movement – no matter how temporary. “– Craig Thompson

Women will always make a mark of having been, lived, loved, wandered.  Whenever I go to an new environment to camp, or stay for a time, I leave a gift of some kind of art I am working on.

When we were camping up near Monashee, this time, we found many inuksuk placed in and around the river.  They stood the weight of the river pushing against them.  Their balance was so perfect that they stayed as they had been placed.  It was a moment of wonder about the hands that left behind some beautiful wonder.

Women always leave their mark somewhere: in the way they decorate their home to make their home feel like home ( especially if she is the ‘next’ wife and needs to transplant here presence in unique ways);  when they add some of their personality to their back yard;  how they add a sign to the outside of their home saying she lives there ( “Bob and Sally live here”)  (a homemade address number on the side of their home); how they choose and grow certain loved flowers on the front of their yard;  how they wear a certain signature perfume that leaves evidence of her passing by; signs on their car window that are specific to her;  how they dress;  some leave gifts on their journey to share with others her journey. 

I am wont to leave bits of art or creativity that I am working on, in areas I have been, for instance.  I leave a sign of my gratitude for the area and hope that someone, who comes next, will find the bit of creativity and will fill them with wonder at the hands that left the gift.  I laughed when I had a sudden thought that someone might see what I have left behind as some sort of warning off, some kind of pagan spell when all I wanted was to say, “I was here!” and here is a gift for you to enjoy.

 

I love being out in nature and always find something to create while there.  I have carved half-burnt wood into owls.  I have made singing hoops out of anything natural I can find.  I have left painted rocks.  I choose something from nature as the focus.  This time, I was practicing a technique of wrapping rocks with raffia.

Women who leave marks tend to enjoy the peace and presence she finds in an area, or does something to add to that peace and serenity.  It never needs to be something intricate or perfect.  It is, in part, her meditation on the beauty of the nature around her.

Women leave a mark showing some passion she holds; something simple that fulfils her expression of how beautiful her spot, for that time, has been.  It becomes a token, a gift, left behind for someone, something, and she cares not who finds it, is sure that those who need to find it will do so it might inspire some women who comes will be inspired to leave her own mark behind. 

Another reason a woman might leave something evocative, inspiring, a thing of wonder, behind, might be that it might spread a bit of happiness to those who follow.  It might be something that brightens someone’s day like the environment brightened hers.  It might give another woman pause, a smile, a moment of that perfect wonder.  I thought, at one point, someone might it a spell, a token of evil, lol, because they would not understand that art is art for art’s sake. 

A woman might leave something beautiful behind because it is a sign of love.  It might be something found that brings happiness, gratitude, a sense of my kindness left behind.  Someone might be inspired to pick up a stone and find a way to share it as a gift in a way of paying it forward.

In a way, something done, like this, might be a way a woman shares her story.  In this case, this stone has grooved markings on it as if someone, a long time ago, took another rock and chiseled out ancient hieroglyphics.   The First Nations, up North, where I lived, taught me about the writings and gifts of the ‘little people’, spirits that are much like gnomes, or leprechauns to other cultures, who leave gifts and messages at your doorstep during the night.  It is the same with stones that have natural holes right through a small stone that is considered a totem medicine that a little person wore and decided to share as protection, if you find it.  This stone has definite markings and I wanted to gift back.

Each woman has a story and she tells her story in myriads of ways.  This is the story of my two nights up in the mountains.  I love exploring nature’s awesome mountains and rivers.  I wish to inspire others to see the adventure and give back.

How do you leave your mark in some place special to you?

©Carol Desjarlais 12.20.20