Goodbye Ribbistrate

        "Please, I want everyone to stand up and ribbistrate!"

    We watched as she threw her arms into the air and jumped with joy. I was all in and I did my best to follow her lead. Rip-a straight? Did I hear her right? I could tell by her body language what it meant but I had never heard the word before. I asked others what they heard. No one knew how to say it or how to spell it. I was intrigued. I looked it up. Dead end.

I googled it. Dead end. 

Finally, I e-mailed her and asked. It wasn't a word in the dictionary. She had made it up with a friend. It expressed the deepest show of joy she could muster; full body involvement. I needed that sort of joy in my life. Ribbistrate would become my word in 2015. Projects such as making my own definition, photographing others expressing that kind of joy, and writing about my own adoption of that feeling kept my word alive throughout the year. Colleen Atara made the word in black plastic for me. It appeared in many pictures and had a prominent place on my mantle.  

A few days before the end of the year I went to visit my friend. We sat together in her magically decorated house and had lunch. Between the pear sandwiches and the gingerbread I presented her with my black plastic word. She had given it to me and I had used it well and I believe wisely. There is another word coming in 2016. Already it hangs on my mantle. It will require a different focus. 

" You gifted me a special word and I lived it for one year."

Ten

   I'll give you ten reasons why I love the word ribbistrate.

1. It is not in the dictionary.
2. My friend introduced me to it in the middle of a women's meeting lesson and then we all ribbistrated together.
3. I chose it as my word for 2015.
4. People do it when they are extra, extra excited.
5. Nature does it best in the Spring.

      6. Songs incapsulate it within their lyrics.

                         Hello Sunshine, it's been too long since I felt your warmth on my face.

                                                   Oh, my lovely, shining for me

                                                    Let my eyes see all the beauty.

                                             Beautiful Dawn Album by  Mercy River

     7. Ribbistrating is really fun in the rain.

                                               I did something you would not have thought

I grabbed my polka dot umbrella

And I opened the door

And I danced in the rain 

I let my dreams know I hadn't forgotten them 

I let my heart take the lead and 

I told my hopes to get themselves up again

And I danced, I looked, yes I danced in the rain

I invited my worries to step aside

I needed room to see in front of me

As the raindrops fell on my overcoat

I let em roll right off of my back

And I waited for the rainbow

Cause Heaven and me we both know

This storm's gonna pass.

                                         

        
        8. I love to do it on a trampoline.

        9. You do when you feel good and it feels good to do it.

       10. Snoopy does it the best.

I write on Fridays with a large group who inspire me. Only five minutes and without much thought to perfection. I write, prompted by one word that sends my thoughts to the keyboard and hopefully make sense.

Online Learning

  Following three online classes during 2015 is challenging. However the content from class to class is related. If I were to generalize the main idea of each class it would be the topic of  experiencing life fully.

 Monica Sabolla Gruppo has caused me to think about the home I inhabit. Looking around I see things and I see stuff.

    Things are lovely art, colorful dishes made by hands I really know, and cozy corners that welcome my meditative stillness. Stuff is not pictured here on this blog because I find stuff creeping up on my radar and I want to simplify my home by letting stuff go. With the things I care about I'd like to make added beauty. One example os sorting books by color. The effect is noticeable. 

    Monica has challenged me to keep a physical gratefulness diary. I found a sweet one in a recent Flow Magazine.

   One Little Word, a class aimed at choosing a word and making it visible in your life, is "in progress".
My word is available all around me and I see new found insights related to this word.

   Flora Bowley's Bloom True E-Course started June 1, 2015. It is an ambitious attempt at becoming even more persistent in painting and drawing. There is material everyday and the assignments are wonderful.

    I have four canvases under construction. That sounds a little bit weird. I will be adding more layers so what you see here may look very different later.

  The above is my warm color  canvas. A woman appeared there and she may be covered over at some point. I do like the freshness of the colors.

   The cool color canvas is beginning a keyboard, of sorts. I wonder if that will stay. Flora's process is not unlike KellyRae Robert's. Both classes force me to stay unattached which is difficult. These classes add zip to my life and give me a great deal to look forward to.

Picturing My Word

     It is April and this month I'm playing with photography to show my relationship with My One Little Word, Ribbistrate. This certainly is a word that can be pictured better than it can be explained. For a definition click here. For some weeks I shot pictures of my grandkids jumping on my mini trampoline. Using the slow motion setting I filmed them ribbistrating with abandon. When I played back the video I used a screen shot to catch them in mid-air.

               Making my word visible included seeing others ribbistrating around me. Online, in movies, at events, even in small groups I became more aware of the feeling and physical demonstration of My One Little Word.

   
As Spring arrived I noted how nature ribbistrates with unsurpassed enthusiasm. My peony bush pushing out one inch a week, the flowers bundles at the florist all showed me how to ribbistrate.

   
 There were some lasts coming up. The last time our Relief Society Presidency met together before it dissolves was an important ribbistrating experience. These women have inspired me with their resolve to help others. Mondays have always been special because of our time together but so were the work parties and fun parties. I am a little melancholy at the project of their moving away from the island. Certainly, as summer arrives there will be more pictures to take as I see my One Little Word showing up everywhere.

An Invitation

      My word of the year, ribbistrate, gives me an invitation to explore it's deeper meaning. Since I made up the etymology of the word I feel I can play with the definition. If ribbies are hits that bring in runs in baseball and strate means to show, then ribbistrate could mean "to show joy in others accomplishments". I would like to be more aware of the good things others do.

    At the temple Saturday I was sitting behind a tiny women with a turban. She seemed to me to be a cancer patient. At some point during the session a sister, on the right,  a stranger, noticed she was not responding any more. I watched this very compassionate sister take her pulse and talk her her gently as she assessed her needs. I heard her say over and over again, "you are going to be all right." Minutes later the husband of the afflicted sister came over and tried to get her to respond. She was so weak she could hardly answer. They helped her into a wheelchair and took her out to receive help. The session reconvened and I noticed the helping sister weeping silently. I felt the high energy in meeting this crisis overcome her. I gave her a little squeeze. Later I saw her before I left. I wanted to tell her what a great job she did to respond so quickly and compassionately. She told me a funny story. She and her husband had been late. They arrived as the group was going in. For some reason she felt compelled to cut in line and go in front of many others. Her husband stayed back irritated at what she did. That action brought her to the side of this little lady. Still weeping she told me what she had learned that day. If a woman with cancer could get the gumption to attend the temple why was she making excuses so often when it came time to go. I wanted to let her know she was in the right place at the right time. I wanted to ribbistrate for her bravery.

Quotations Using Ribbistrate

I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of Beauty.

Edgar Allan Poe

Ribbistrate, my word for 2015, being a word unknown to most, is not going to appear in many quotations. I will not let that stop me from substituting it in place of words synonymous but not as vivacious.

                                         

When you ribbistrate, beware that no one moves the ground from beneath your feet.

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings ribbistrated for joy?

Definition of Ribbistrate

What does ribbistrate mean? Since this is a word made up by someone I don't know I give myself permission to make up the roots of the word. 

Rí-bíss-trãte

Combining the word ribbies which is baseball slang for a batted in run and 

monstare which means to show

we get the meaning, to show what it feels like when you score. It is  unparalleled joy. It can be for yourself or seeing the achievement of someone else.

The reason why I picked this word to be a guiding light throughout 2015 is that intrigues me. There are, of course, the physical manifestations of the word which are fun to photograph but I am intrigued with the idea of exploring how I might ribbistrate emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. The word means more to me then excitement or joyful which could be synonyms. The feeling of what it means to score has some further pondering. For now, I'm enjoying catching photos of my grandchildren ribbistrating on the trampoline. All of them have faces full of happiness when they jump as high as they can. Yes, I will be attempting the same jump. Stay tune.

Word Of The Year -2015

I am drawn to one word right now. I hope it stays active in my heart throughout the whole year.

It gives me an invitation to explore what it means physically, emotionally, mentally, and socially,and 

spiritually.

       The word is Ribbistrate. Rìb-ìs-trāte is a verb. You will not find it in a dictionary because it has not found it's way into the larger section of our culture. I will define it in a later post. The physical manifestation can be pictured above in the happy dance Snoopy does and below in a joyous jump Kate Winslet did in the movie The Holiday when she discovered that she was staying at an amazing house.

               I am ready for the invitation and invite you, as well, to try this word out in your life. And Happy New Year. This is the anniversary of my fourth year writing this blog. I could ribbistrate about that.