Atlas's Women

In my last posting, I mentioned that I had lost a dear friend recently.  Her birthday was this month.  It was bittersweet as these occasions tend to be.  I refuse to put her birthday in the past tense.  There is still reason to celebrate the gift of this woman's life, now and always.  That's the sweet. The bitter is that her physical self is not here to share the joy of the day of her birth.

And, as always happens in the month of September, I remember all the beautiful events and people that came to be in years past.  Some of the dates commemorate births, others unions, and, sadly, also death.

This is the month that marks my mother and stepfather creating the family of my childhood that I didn't have before that day.  My mother had fought unbelievable odds to keep me in her life.  She is innately strong, even as a young woman, and, she was sensible beyond her years, too.  When she and my now-father (fka, stepfather) took the "leap", she seemed to know that he would be the man to make us whole.  And, while it wasn't a smooth transition, as most of these situations aren't, her strength kept us together.

One of the transitions we dealt with was acquiring a fourth member of the family, my now-father's aunt, Marie.  She and I were the proverbial oil-and-vinegar and it was not pretty for a long time.  But she was determined to keep me on the path of virtue, by her definition.  By the time I was finishing high school, I started to appreciate her tenancity. I also noticed that she had become one of my true friends and best defender. I wish that we'd had the time to correct a lot of the wrongs from the past, but we lost her shortly after that, unexpectedly, one day before my parents' anniversary in September, 1981. Most of the frayed edges of the family material mended, over time. I like to think that with her hand guiding us to overcome the past, we've become a stronger family.

In 1996, I met the man who would change my life in ways I'd never dreamed of, my now-husband.  There's an entire story here that explains why I believe in fate, but that's for another time. The gist of this, is that it was September when we "discovered" each other. It was when I also learned that there is no substitute for consuming, passionate love to get you through the trials of your life.  Sometimes that love is spurred by a person, sometimes a creative need, or an athletic bent. It is the love that keeps the world balanced.

As a result of this beautiful union, I was fortunate to get to know his mother. Today marks the 10th year since we lost my mother-in-law, Florence. She fell ill the day we married and never had any peace until her body gave out completely. We know she went home to her great love, her husband, who had passed about 4 years earlier. She was tired of pain and missed him terribly. Before she gave into the pain, though, she had raised 5 boys to men and had done so successfullly, with consistency and scads of patience. And patience, is the greatest of strengths. She had seen all of them through marriages, divorces, illness, children, joy and despair. Her support was always there, unquestioningly.



Welcome to the Hill





This month marks the privilege of knowing these remarkable women, of partaking of their lives, celebrating the wonders they helped to create, and mourning the loss of their everyday presence. I am lucky to still have my mother in my world. I am lucky to have had these other women to help mold me, give me my passionate love, and keep my world balanced. Atlas has had a lot of help from all of them and their strength. They may have had to stand on the Hill to reach as high, but they definitely did it, and did it well.










View From the Hill

 

Just a peek of the Hill. Enjoy your world!

Perennial Friends

The Slippery Slope

I'm not really sure when my life became so busy.  It seems to me that before I married my (second) husband, I had enough time to work non-stop, dabble in my artwork, watch lots of movies, be an energetic lover, and still be able to get out to dinner and drinks with a friend at the last minute.  And, yet, I never considered myself to be "busy".

Now, I struggle to get any housework done.  My poor husband used to get homemade meals regularly, but, lately, he gets to scrounge through the fridge for some decent leftovers.  Or, eat hotdogs.  Again.  There aren't enough hours left by the end of the evening to get that recommended 7 hours of sleep.  And, let's not even get into romance! 

When we married, we became an American patchwork family.  He had 3 young daughters from his first marriage.  This was a new exercise in expending energy I had never had the opportunity to explore.  It wasn't just the non-stop activity that was draining;  it was largely the emotional needs for love, acceptance, and uninterrupted attention that all children seek.  It was discovering what made them happy and sad, what bored or stimulated them.  I and my husband started to learn what we needed to teach them.  I cannot say it was an easy lesson to grasp or apply.  It was not.  And it was consuming.

I let the title of "mother" take over my life, not just at home, but at work, too.  There was no energy left for anything else.

This spring, I lost a wonderful, loving friend.  It was sudden.  And she was still young.  It's a cliche, but it is cliche because it's true.  A loss like that does make you step back and look at your life, your priorities and your dreams.

The girls are mostly grown.  There have been setbacks amongst us, as well as joy in many manifestations.  They will always need me and I will always need them.  But, it's time to start heading back up the hill:  up the slippery slope, if you will.

It's time to take the lessons I've learned from my girls and apply them to my newfound desire to ply my crafts and artwork:

• While you might not always like your friends or family, or, even, your attempts at creativity, you will always love them.
• If you're committed to a relationship, be it with a lover, spouse, child, parent, friend, or with your own talents, don't let it slip away simply because time slips away.
• Listen whenever needed.  Laugh and enjoy even more.  Dance and let the energy flow when you can.  Love always.

Put yourself back up on the hilltop.  You might really like- or, perhaps, love- what you see.

Booda's Bunch I

Nature's Gift-Watkins Glen

Commemorate your friends, your teammates, your favorite landscape.  Contact me and we can make it the perfect, personalized gift.

Changes and More- Welcome to the Hill

This has been a season of dizzying changes.  I had been at the same job for the last 11years and finally broke free this spring.  And while it might not seem to be an event that could change every detail of your life, it was. It was a summer of re-applying my focus and energies, some toward those who choose to have me in their lives, but, mostly back toward myself.

Through the persuasion of some longtime, and very wonderful friends, I have taken on the challenge of turning those new-found energies outward again.  Persuaded to write, to actively persue my love of art.  Persuaded to share with anyone who wants to share with me.

So, metaphorically, while autumn is a time of sleep and quiet, that will not pertain to me.  It is not the time to migrate to a comfortable zone.  It's time to embrace the changes in the sky, in the landscape around me and to manifest those changes in as creative a way as I can.

Here on the Hill, I want to present you with ways to express a shared friendship in personalized glassware or novelties.  Or a love of an inspirational sight on paper or canvas.  Or capture the excitement of a movement with color.  As we move along, I hope to show you how I can do these things for you.  And I hope, you can show me ways to do these things for you as well!

Welcome to the Hill! Thanks for joining me!