March 30, 2011

Back in the Studio!

I’m back in the Studio, and it feels great to be here :)

I can’t believe it’s been exactly four months since I’ve posted a blog. 

To briefly explain, I abruptly put the Studio work on hold while I attended to the needs of my 86-year-old mom in November. As you can see, she is adorable. She’s also been my best friend forever. Until mid-November, she walked over a mile a day in her charming NW Portland neighborhood of coffee houses and boutiques … but suddenly, she was too unsteady to walk (even with her walker) and the aging process seemed to go into overdrive.

So the last few months have been filled with finding her a new home, packing, moving her out of her beloved downtown high-rise apartment, finding appropriate medical care, caretaking in my home, and ultimately helping her into assisted living just a few minutes away from me.

This has been a stage in my life that required a lot of energy—and what was left went to my teenage son, husband and wonderful grown kids and grandkids.

So, as much as I love my work and still feel absolutely passionate about it, I put it on the back burner temporarily.

Now that things have, thankfully, calmed down considerably … I’m back and thrilled to be planning great things for the Studio!

I know I’m getting back to “my old self” because I was excited to create the first digital scrapbook page I’d done in months—to celebrate a trip my son Mackian and I took to Phoenix, AZ, last week. Will post it in the next day or two.

Those of you in the Pacific Northwest don’t have to ask why we chose Phoenix:

It was a wonderful, rejuvenating trip and I became really excited for getting back to my creative work and even taking off in new directions.

So—I hope if you find yourself needing to take a sharp turn from what you had expected, you recognize that life is full of do-overs … it is NEVER too late to get back on the track you laid with such high hopes … and then come back with renewed enthusiasm and no regrets.

Maybe after your detour, you'll even get to drive down the Carefree Highway, like we did last week ...