Soul Mosaic

To Tame the Chaos, Will “Pick a Nipple” Work This Time?

I made my peace with the decision to write, and answered the questions, “Why now?” and “For whom?” So all I needed to do was tell the story, right? But…which parts? In what order? To mean exactly what?

I started this process overwhelmed with chaos. Lists of questions, a lifetime of details, photos, and journals, many paintings from the last several years, objects from a lifetime…simply an abundance of material that seemed worse than herding cats.

The dilemma: HOW do I make a story out of this? A story that shows what happened, how I came back, and what I have discovered, all while telling it in a way that matters to readers. Because ultimately, this is a story for all of us.

In times of greatest stress, we fall back on what we know. For me, that is lists, maps, lab techniques, details, and art. Yes, an odd mix of left and right brain tools.

Let’s start with “lab techniques.” Probably one of the most stressed-out times of my life was as a new Mom trying to figure out how to “pick a nipple.”