Commonality

Photo of our casting class (missing Susan and Eileen - shucks!)

I have rambled on about this topic before. How people in the “arts” share a bond. Maybe it’s just that we are extremely right brained. My friend, Susan says, “People just don’t get it!” I know they don’t, and we both agree its okay. I don’t ‘get’ golf but I understand people’s passion for it. I would like to drive the cart around the course, maybe once leisurely to enjoy the scenery and get the feel for the course. And then, at break neck golf cart speed (ha, like 5 mph?), to see how fast I could make it through the hair pin turns. Okay, so this doesn’t have much to do with commonality but I bet there are those of you out there who’d enjoy doing just that! Or, maybe….it does make sense because if we’d both like to do that, it is a commonality between us. Artists are adventurous problem solvers and sometimes problem creators. We have a lot of common traits.

Susan and I have a slew of common traits and I suspect this covers a lot of “girlfriends’, let alone the creative ones. I mean why else would you be friends, duh? It's because you have these common traits or interests. Another thing besides our creativity we have in common, thanks to Susan, is penny squishing. Quit laughing!!! As a kid I used to love putting them on the railroad tracks close to my home. – Squish! Flatter than a pancake. I’d walk down there several times each summer with my pocket of pennies.

When I met my husband I squished one of those silly aluminum round discs on a machine. I put our names on it. I think he wondered what he was getting in to. Little did he know?

Susan and I travel. We’ve been to Bead and Button, The Gathering, and Lapidary Journal’s Beadfest. We’ve co-facilitated classes at Lapidary Journal's Beadfest off and on for several years.
On one of our out of state adventures Susan showed me the penny impression machine in the rest area. She uses them as souvenirs of her travels. My eyes LIT UP “Squishing!!!” of yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah (see me dancing). The glee of it all. You can take the girl away from the tracks but the squishing remains in her heart. This might explain my adoration for the hydraulic press. Heavy squishing : - ).

We have squished our way through lots of years of friendship and this week I received a present. Who knew they existed? Elation. Are you checking out that photo of my collection? Susan sent me a penny from South Carolina along with the COLLECTION BOOK SHE FOUND. There are also sites on the Internet about penny squishing such as Pressed Penny

Ah, things in common. Ain’t life grand????

If anyone else out there passes a penny squisher – squeeze one for me! I’ll trade you a bead for it. Really, I will!