Sunday, April 19, 2015

monday magic

It's a rainy Monday morning in Sapporo, and I've just finished six or seven of the ten cards I had hoped to paint today. Monday is my day to make etegami for friends (and sometimes strangers) who are sick, disabled, or elderly, and confined to their homes or hospital beds. I'm hoping someone will do the same for me when I can no longer paint. The recipients who are able to do so might send a letter or card in return, but this doesn't happen very often.

Last week I made a new, and very young friend through Postcrossing. She reached out to me by email from her sick bed and is in terrible pain-- although I didn't find this out until later. I promised to send her a "surprise" if she would first send me a hand-drawn card, even if all she could draw was a stick figure. She wrote back to say she would try, and later she told me that concentrating on making the card had helped her to forget her pain for a while. The magic of etegami.

I eagerly wait for my husband to pick up the mail on his way home from work every evening, but her card hasn't arrived yet. Soon. Maybe today! Making etegami is magical. But waiting for an etegami that you know is on its way is magical too.

4 comments:

  1. Mes etegami devraient te parvenir bientôt , Debbie. Réjouis toi .

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  2. Love this. Do unto others as... done with paint and brush. (And thanks for the introduction to Post Crossing. I signed up yesterday.)

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  3. Your etegami are beautiful, especially the one with the globe (am I right ?) on it !
    But your story is so much more beautiful ! All the etegami you send around ! I hope the postcard of your Postcrossing friend will arrive soon ! So great that it helped her forgetting her pain !
    Magic happens !

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  4. What a wonderful thing to do. Artists are amazing, caring, thoughtful people. I hope your young friend's card arrives soon.

    Now I will send you something special. You inspired me to learn etegami. I'm still not very good at it but there's hope. I never learned Chinese calligraphy either but where there's life there is hope. And fun!

    Be well.

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