Colette Day!

Colette Day? Say what? I know, I know, another weirdo thing about the weirdo guy who runs Four Star Video…True. True.

I wrote a bit about Colette Day last year. What I didn’t mention was that Colette Day is named for an old friend Colette Harrington, who, among many other things, was one of those very amazing people who have an extremely strong sense of perspective and are able to see the silver lining under just about any conditions. Colette passed, tragically, many years ago, when we were young adults, but her spirit lives on in just about everyone who knew her, and, through Colette Day, in many who didn’t.

One thing I find so interesting about life is how we can just create reality, take power and choose our own adventure. I really recommend it! Obviously, we have certain…constructs that must be followed, certain parameters that are relatively set in stone – we must eat and sleep regularly, some sort of income must be generated, clothes have to be worn in public – but lots of other aspects of life are just open for our own interpretation. I try to never miss an opportunity to interpret. For me, Colette Day is a great realization of that opportunity. Each year, my wife Amy makes a beautiful piece of art and we send it as a card to many friends and family. We always encourage our friends to "assess their surroundings" and to "be happy with what you got!". It is a powerful message of hope and love that we are happy to share with everyone.

This year was the 15th year we have celebrated this holiday, and I wrote a poem that we put into the card...In the spirit of sharing the love (and not being embarrassed to have written a poem!), I am publishing it here for you to read and for me to share the love. Thanks for being in my life, in whatever way you are. Hey, this isn't our regular film release post, but that will come very soon. Much love! -Ken

A butterfly flapped its wings
in my heart and breathlessly
my eyes were raised to the light

Gifted love creates a wake – a selfless wave with mondo break
Crashing down and exponentially
expanding and expounding
on the little moments; alighting on a song, on a breeze,
on a memory, a favorite shirt.

The summer you tripped lightly through the rich atmosphere
of regular life wearing little but a
smile and that shirt.

and knew the commonality of pain
and felt the rusted barbs of individualism
and laughed with the sheerness of loneliness
and were made drunk by the wind
and shed tears for the yous you’d never be
and rubbed lotion on the callouses of responsibility
and struggled with peace & love & understanding
and celebrated the outcasts and unmanicured
and rough and ragged and illprepared
and hapless and not funny and the eyesores and
the secretly crippled and each of the moments
of every single minute of every single day until you padded
your heart and kept surviving right up until this very morning

Are you the kite and we the flyer? Or is it the opposite?

To me, it’s the string that matters. The hand must hold the string and
also
be lucky that nature doesn’t sever the connection between kite and string
(we have so many names for this).

With this card, sent to you –
year after year after year after year for what now is fifteen years –
we renew our vows to you as fellow passengers on this ride
as possible affecters of this experience
as lucid dreamers in this dream
as the owners of a car, the parent of a child
as breathers of air and drinkers of water; that
We will hold onto the string with every earned bit of strength until at last
our breath gives way to whatever it is our breath gives way to.

Until then, as tradition dictates, we’ll assess our surroundings.
And we’ll find happiness with what we’ve got and share it with you and hopefully you’ll share it with all of your yous…

Because, a butterfly once flapped its wings and look at what happened.

Happy Colette Day people!