Saturday night we invited a couple of friends to our patio after the bars closed. As the morning hours faded into a haze of smoke and drink, the mood became quite mellow. I handed everyone a big piece of colorful sidewalk chalk. Now, things got interesting. I jumped right in and started drawing the first thing that popped into my head... a heart. The others sat there as if they were frozen by the egg-shaped piece of chalk. I continued making shapes and colors on the patio floor. The others sat there holding the chalk like it was going to hurt them or expose them in some uncomfortable way. Finally, one of my friends knelt down on the floor and began to draw an odd but large shape. I drew a line that followed hers, then she followed mine, and then I followed her, and then... Then my other friend joined in, but didn't follow our lines, he just made a couple of raw marks on the floor, but it was a start. Hey, we were on a roll. Paula never got the urge to join in.

The last guy to get into the "fun" is a comedian by trade, a creative type. He struggled with this form of free expression that so many 2 year olds love. I was shocked! I learned some things from this little experiment. Some people are afraid to show their inner self, afraid to let go. It's sad. Thank God I can let go. It gets me into trouble on occasion, but it feels so good! I could tell what these people's moods were by what they drew... or didn't draw. After covering most of the available floor space on the patio, we all sat back and looked. It was interesting. We all saw something different in the shapes and colors on the cement. It was like looking at clouds when we were kids and imaging what the shapes were. I stood on the steps looking over our patio to get a new perspective, it was very cool. The next day when I looked at the art, it took on a whole new meaning. It was still cool. Now as the days have gone by and the sun and rain have done their damage it continues to be a morphing piece of art that soon will be a blank canvas again. I'm going to have get more sidewalk chalk.