Gracie Garp....

While residing at the most beloved of my homes: 320 22nd Street-Santa Monica, my dear, dear friend, Turtle (Richard Turley) who has known me since my nursing days with Justin, called to my attention that being with me was like being with both Gracie Allen and Garp.  **The androgynous aspect is duly noted.  Thus was born my 'other name'--Gracie Garp.

For those who know me, this is probably a very apt description of what might be termed my zany humor and Garpesque antics....

One Thanksgiving, unbeknownst to Turtle, I had a brass plaque made and engraved.  When he arrived, there was the brass plaque mounted on the front door. It read: The Gracie Garp Estate.  Other than confusing the mailperson, it was there to announce the entry into another realm of experiencing the unexplored interior landscapes of whomever crossed the threshold.

And experience, we all did.  Heretofore, elements of any individuals sense of themselves, was able to be pushed past the envelope that they or anyone else had sealed them into.  Those aspects of 'self' that were buried or unexplored were welcome to make a showing within the walls of the estate.  It was a free for all, except for any acts of violence, that allowed for complete and authentic expression of, or just trying on for size, those attributes that wanted an avenue to stretch and explore. What may have been disallowed on 'the outside' world, became welcomed fodder for heart and soul perusal of the 'explorer.'

The estate plaque has traveled with me to many different abodes but wherever it hung, there was the invitation to be yourself...all of yourself...without editing or stifling that which was safely hiding under any veneer of inauthenticity that one felt compelled to maintain.

Gracie Garp has served me well.  I, myself, am beckoned to proceed (sometimes with reckless abandon),  down the vestibules of my inner life to see what has been hidden that wants to come out and play.  And, so it is, always an open invitation to visit the estate...come prepared for 'not knowing' or needing to know, what will come to the light of day or night.  The door is most often unlocked, so just let yourself in.

Gracie Garp