My Creative Rendezvous

By Paul Roberts

Here at Grow Me a Story Carol and I are taking some time to review, for ourselves and for our subscribers, the five tools we recommend for cultivating creativity (you can find those here). In my blog today I’d like to share some thoughts about “tool number two” which we refer to as the Creative Rendezvous. 

I love that word rendezvous. It takes me back to elementary school, 4th grade, learning about Lewis and Clark in Idaho history (formally known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition)  and making the discovery myself that it was fun to look at a crazy word like “rendezvous” and pronounce it “rahn-day-voo.” Suddenly, I was speaking a foreign language! How cool!

rendezvous - 

     noun: a meeting at an agreed time and place, typically between two people; a place used for a rendezvous

    verb:  to meet at an agreed time and place

    word origin: late 16th century: from French rendez-vous! ‘present yourselves!’

Last Friday, in between rainstorms, I made plans to rendezvous with…me. Carol waved me onward from the front steps as I went pedaling by on my red bicycle. I had an awesome red bicycle when I was in 4th grade. I waved back, and called out “I don’t know where I’m going or what I’m doing, but I’ll be back in a couple of hours!”

It takes me less than a minute on my bike to reach the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, a 72 mile bike trail that runs through my home town. I was hoping to find my inner “child artist” somewhere down the trail. To my amazement, he showed up in no time.

“Get your phone out,” he giggled, “and take pictures of things that make you happy.”

By the time I reached the trail, I had the technique down. Steer with the right hand, point and shoot with the left. I had no idea if the pictures would be blurry or not, but I really didn’t care. The rain held off, the sun made an appearance, and the kid in me had a rendezvous with the sights and sounds of a little part of the Creator’s great big world. I pedaled and clicked, making a couple of stops for some special sights, and didn’t stop until my phone ran out of power. 

I was six miles down the trail in Osburn, and since the thrift store there was open, I stopped in for a brief moment. I found a special trinket selling for three bucks. The little kid in me giggled a bit more when I pulled all the change out of my pants pocket, totaled it up on the counter, and forlornly said to the cashier, “How much is the tax on this?” I think he recognized the child in me, because he smiled and said, “I got you covered.”

I put the Lighthouse Bug and Breakfast in my backpack and rode home.

You know, as I recall, Lewis and Clark weren’t really sure where they were going when they started out either. And I know they packed some pretty special memories all the way back home.

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Tell us about a Creative Rendezvous of your own, or talk about what blocks you from taking such an adventure to meet your own "Child Artist."

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