Category: writing

Please excuse the disruption of the series. Hurricane Matthew passed through (along with the end of the mod). South Carolina was hit by that “killer” hurricane over the weekend. The coast was pretty beat up. The historic Springmaid Pier at Myrtle Beach was destroyed.

It was the oldest pier in the area. There was another old pier in Murrells Inlet that was swept away. There is a great deal of coastal flooding. Thousands and thousands of people are still without power, and will be for a while. A pecan tree fell in the my son’s yard and clipped the corner of his house. Fortunately, there was no damage to the house.

People are still displaced and will be for the time being.

Yet, we are so fortunate. I don’t know that we’ve had any loss of life because of the storm. We have had no looting, no stealing, no violence as a result. Instead, those of us who live in the Midlands and Upstate out of the reach of the storm are reaching out to help others.

But today, I’m starting again now that we are out danger. I’m also out of school for the next five weeks.

It’s that time of year to check in with myself. In January, I chose “abide” as my word for 2016, and I have been “abiding” and waiting, and generally procrastinating about some things.

I guess I’ve procrastinated about a lot of things, but seriously, I have been living *in* some questions that have been running around in my brain for a good little while.

I guess about five or six years ago, I had a tug in my head, a little voice that kept whispering that I needed to change my career or at the very least change my venue. Circumstances stepped in, and there were some major changes in career and venue. But still, there was a nagging voice that whispered that there should be “more.”

I thought I could be a “people” photographer—custom portrait sessions, senior sessions, engagements. . . .  You know, the kind that so many “moms with cameras” seem to be able to do and to make a living at. The market is small, though, and there seems to be a photographer on every corner, and I just plain didn’t know what to do. I set that dream aside.

Instead, I signed up for classes, and I spent some time learning Photoshop, and I played with my camera, and I still play with my camera. And I realize that I enjoy photographing things other than people, although I do enjoy “people” photography now and again. In fact, next week, I’m going to be up to my ears in people photography at Vacation Bible School. We’re making a video of images that I take for the closing.

But I’m still not there yet. My dream is reframing itself again. I “met” Teresa Robinson, the Stargardener, online through her Right Brain Planning website and Facebook group. She is becoming a mentor to help me sift through these dreams of mine. Here it is: I want to encourage people, especially women like me who have grown up thinking that they “can’t” be creative or artistic because ________. I’ll let you fill in the blank. I grew up in a family of practical people. When I wanted to major in English because I loved literature and writing, my mother encouraged me to become a teacher. I had to be practical. Now, don’t get me wrong. That teaching career has served me well over the last thirty-six years! But now that I am semi-retired and part-time, I want “more.”

So, still putting my dreams and my goals “out there” into the universe: I want to teach people/women/children/children-at-heart how to be creative every single day.

This is going to take some major reframing and some major stepping out of my comfort zone.

Last year, the word “seek” seemed to be calling my name constantly. I resolved to “seek” after things that made me feel satisfied, that energized me, that settled a longing for “something.” I made “seek” my word for 2015. As I think back over the year, I’m not sure what I found! Well, I found plenty, but I’m not always sure that what I found was what I was seeking.

Perhaps the one thing that I did find was a reconnection with my music. I fell in love with the piano when I was about eight or nine years old. Mama bought a Cable-Nelson spinet and installed it in the living room (you know some houses had formal living rooms back then!). She was my first teacher before we found Mrs. Wessinger, who taught me until I finished high school. I could practice and play for hours, and I did not mind the hard work that went into that. I even thought I could major in music and become a concert pianist.

Those plans did not work out.

When a neighbor and friend gave me his piano a summer ago, I began playing after a LONG time away. I found that music filled an empty spot. During this year, I even engaged a piano teacher and resumed lessons. I was playing Chopin, Brahms, Beethoven, Debussey as I never played before. And I didn’t have to practice scales, arpeggios, or technical exercises before I played the pieces.

I also found a “family” of colleagues with whom I enjoy working. Maria and Kim and Antoinette and I are a “sisterhood” so to speak. We support each other and encourage each other. We laugh and share and have fun. Our students often think we’ve lost our minds when we have music battles before classes begin at 9:00 a.m., but we don’t care!

I am finding my artistic side as well, seeking to discover what I can do, instead of what I can’t. I may never be a da Vinci, but at least the last face I attempted to draw actually looked like a human face instead of a sketch for the latest horror movie mask!

And I am seeking ways to create community through photography. This one is a toughie, though, and it has been hard to figure out the ways to do that.

Now, it is time to choose another word for 2016. I will have to give that some thought.

It’s not a huge list (yet), but it’s a start.