a stuffed chicken

Well, Thanksgiving came and went somehow with very little notice from me. I saw an old friend, which was great, but other than that, it was just like eating a big meal...

My family is so exhausted of all the stress going on. My mom and I keep attempting to escape it and reward ourselves with dates for coffee, or cleaning out spaces in the house for some sort of instant gratification. But, inevititably (sp?) my brother will get home, do or say something awful, and the peace will leave in an instant.

Peace. There is an empty cavity somewhere in my torso that used to be filled with it. Now it's filled with a feeling that something is missing. I can't quite put my finger on it.

People respond to stress in strange ways. One way my family responds is to find humor in all things. Sometime last week a stupid looking stuffed chicken showed up in the house. If you touch it or shake it or whatever, it clucks and giggles, and it's really pretty creepy if you ask me. For some reason, that chicken is like the symbol of our family making it through. We hide it and scare each other when you jump into bed and hear "cluck cluck, hee hee hee." Or we throw it at each other's heads when you are quietly escaping into a stupid movie.

I need to make some artwork. I can feel it welling up inside of me asking to come out. I'm waiting for it to tell me what it looks like.