It’s been 11 years for me, 15 for Dot Day itself and 21 for The Dot, the amazing book by Peter Reynolds that inspired it all 😁🤩 I tell ya–it never gets old no matter how old I get! What I’m enjoying most about it now is celebrating it with my two beautifully precious granddaughters. Charlotte is now 7 and Nora is 3 1/2, and their creativity just keeps growing as they do 🎨👧😄😎

But before I get into sharing our Dots of Creativity, on a different note, you may know or perhaps recall me mentioning (in every post), Terry Shay, the man who founded Dot Day back in 2009. I had interviewed him back in 2014. He said “yes” without hesitation and couldn’t have been nicer or more accommodating. Through the years, him knowing how much I loved the day itself and Celebri-dots, he would always tag me on Twitter when a new one was posted because he knew I’d enjoy it and share it on the spot. Just now, when getting the link for this post, I noticed that mine was the last one he posted, days after he’d posted Sharon Creech’s, the Newbery-winning author who inspired the Celebri-dots project. Making a Celebri-dot was long a “bucket list”-type thing for me, but hadn’t been published. During the first year of the pandemic I’d self-published and realized “I can do one!” When I sent him my first, back in 2020, he told me I didn’t have to be published to do a Celebri-dot, and that he was sorry he made it seem differently! What a sweetheart 🥰 Virtually all the dots on that site (I strongly encourage you to go through the Celebri-dot archives) are done by successful authors and illustrators, most of whom you likely know of and I don’t really “fit” in that company, but I’m so happy I got to do that.

Only last week, when wanting to see whether schools would be celebrating on Friday or Monday (the official Dot Day was on Sunday, Sept. 15th), did I learn the tragic news that Terry (TJ) passed away last year, shortly after Dot Day 2023. I’m deeply saddened by the loss😢. It is well-known that Terry was a passionate, caring teacher and “made his mark” in many ways, founding Dot Day being just one. He will be missed.

In an International Dot Day Livestream with Peter and Paul Reynolds, they mentioned Peter would be going to Iowa to Terry’s hometown to be with Terry’s wife and friends to celebrate his life, including all of them making dots. What a special way to commemorate him ❤️.

And that’s what we did. I hadn’t mentioned to Charlotte and Nora that Terry had passed, but he was on my mind. I can’t get over that this year’s dot is already Charlotte’s 4th and Nora’s 2nd, and believe me, those creative juices were flowing 🎨👧 along with markers, dot markers and glue!😄😎

The girls really got into it (though at a certain point Nora was having more fun playing with the dot markers than using them! lol). So here we go with our 🔴🟡🔵🟢 😀 Top left is mine (I just felt like playing with dot markers hehehe–and forgot to sign it! Also had no time to do an “official” one this year 🤷‍♀️). Then there’s Nora’s; she’s nuts for blue (and Bluey!) 💙🩵💙🩵💙and unintentionally hers turned out looking like a smiley face 😊. She doesn’t know how to write letters yet and no matter how many times I asked if she wanted to try, she asked me to pleeease (with tilted head, big smile, puppy-dog eyes and praying hands, no less–too adorable for words) write her name 😍. The two bottom ones are Charlotte’s. She’s developed a love for patterns (her favorite color is purple!) and I was impressed with the prettiness of her “swerel” (swirl) design. Then she got the idea to do the cover of The Dot book 💜🤍💜🤍💜 What a great job! What fun getting creative with the grandgirls! 😀😄😁🥰🎨👍👏

OK, now that I’ve celebrated with BOTH my granddaughters🥳🥰🥰🥰, I’m DOUBLY happy to present this year’s “official” dot for this year. It’s simple because time constraints don’t allow for more. THIS year Dot is making an appearance with his very special friend, Creativity! 😉

I will ALways be appreciative of this special day thanks to the people who made it happen: Terry Shay 💔, Peter Reynolds and Paul Reynolds. I will always mention the interviews I got to do with them (a bright spot for me!), all of which you can see through these links, along with my/our previous Dots:

2014 … Terry Shay … 2015 … 2016 … 2017 … 2018 with Peter and Paul …. 2019 … 2020 … 2021 … 2022 and 2023. “Forever” love for these guys! 🤩🤩🤩

As always—Happy Dot Day, everyone—a day that can be celebrated EVERY day of the year! Get creative, make your mark and MAKE A DOT! 😄🥰😎🤭😃👌👌😁🎨And don’t forget to check out those magnificent Celebri-dots (links in the right column)!