On the Eve of a New Beginning, (I Hope!)

I'm sitting here, my last day in Washington, my stuff has been picked up by the movers and I'm once again spending the night on my Aerobed, finishing the last of whatever random food is still in the refrigerator, hoping that everything will fit in the Honda.

I'm not sure how I feel about this yet. I have been wanting to live near my grandchildren for seven years now. I'm probably moving to a place that is so very different from every other place I have lived. Well, I don't even have an address. I'm subletting for a couple of weeks, then a hotel for a week, then housesitting for six weeks. That gets me into mid July. Perhaps by then I will know what I want to do. Or not.

My stuff is going into storage. I have owned my own home since age 22. That's a long time ago. I never needed a storage unit before. I always had a place to go. A place of my own. I'm really a homebody. I don't want to travel much, I like to eat at home, read, watch TV. I enjoy my friends and family, but I'd make a lousy roommate. I need down time now.

It's a beautiful, sunny day today, unlike many of the days I have spent here in the Pacific Northwest. When it's sunny, it's beautiful. But much of the time it is just gray. Dull, gray, overcast, no sun. Not for me.

So, I'll get to see my littles regularly. I'm hoping to achieve a balance: I don't want to wear out my welcome, but I do want to help out as much as I can.

I have also been thinking of teaching art classes for kids. I'd like to show kids how to use all of the different media: clay, paint, collage, sculpture, printing.
Kids are creative and if they get comfortable with art when they are young, they will be competent, imaginative kids as they grow up.

So many times people ask me how I learned to draw or paint or do ceramics. I tell them that I was very fortunate to have a mother who was undaunted by any media. She carved birds from soap, she painted, she sewed. She would try anything. And so, I tried everything. I tell them that I learned to do these things by simply doing them. So, I want to pass on my love of art to children while they are still open to everything, while they are curious, adventurous and without the self-restrictions adults have.