Debra Darvick

Enhance Your Now

I conceived of this Enhance Your Now website as a contemporary version of yesterday’s “wunderkammer,” a curio cabinet that held the kinds of found objects and mementos, small artworks and bits of delight so joyous that they had to be shared in order to be fully appreciated. Enhance Your Now offers a similar experience. Gathered within these nine “drawers” are moments from my life, images, books, bits of wisdom, and conundrums so engaging that I am compelled to invite you to explore them with me. 

For much of my career, I wrote feature stories and essays for a variety of national Jewish presses. My work appeared in Good Housekeeping, the Detroit Free Press, and Newsweek. I am the author of  This Jewish Life, Stories of Discovery, Connection and Joy (Front Edge Publishing, LLC, 2012)  and the children’s book We Are Jewish Faces (Apples & Honey Press, 2018). My advice column for the Detroit Jewish News was a dream-come-true gig for a former kid captivated by Dear Abby and the “Can This Marriage Be Saved” column  in my mother’s Ladies Home Journal magazines.

A decade or so ago I added a paintbrush to my creative backback, fulfilling a childhood dream. When I was ten or so a family friend gave me a coffee-sized book of Grand Moses’ paintings. I pored over each image, losing myself in her rural landscapes. Upon reading that she came to painting in her seventies, I reasoned if Grandma Moses took it up as an old lady, so could I. Now an “old lady” myself, I realize creating keeps us youthful, alive, engaged.

I continue to navigate this world taking each moment as it comes, learning again and again there is only one place to be, to plan, to grow, to mend, and to love. That place is the now. Come, join me.

 

photo courtesy of Martin Darvick

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enchance Your Now helps answerThe concept behind Enhance Your Now is the image of a  “wunderkammer,” a curio cabinet of bibelots, tchotchkes, relics, and such. organizes and shares treasured moments that captivate me, lift my spirit, gift me with beauty, surprise me with funny absurdities, challenge my assumptions, compel me to compose an essay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For much of my career, I wrote feature stories and essays for a variety of national Jewish presses. My work appeared in Good Housekeeping, the Detroit Free Press, and Newsweek. I am the author of  This Jewish Life, Stories of Discovery, Connection and Joy (Front Edge Publishing, LLC 2012)  and the children’s book We Are Jewish Faces (Apples and Honey Press 2018.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My advice column for the Detroit Jewish News was a dream-come-true gig for a former kid captivated by  Dear Abby and the “Can This Marriage Be Saved” column  in my mother’s Ladies Home Journal Magazines. Currently, I am currently working on two picture books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meaningful conversation is the key to enhancing any relationship. In 2016, my husband and I created Picture a Conversation™, a set of unique prompts that combine image and text. It’s gratifying to know that meaningful dialogue is being sparked every time someone chooses a card.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I continue to navigate this world taking each moment as it comes, learning again and again there is only one place to be, to plan, to grow, to mend, and to love. That place is the Now. Come, join me.