A FOOT INTO A NEW WORLD... for BOTH of us.
Today is a poignant day. It's 20 year mark of when I went into labor to deliver Girl. Something about 20 hits a little differently than one, or 10 or 13, or sweet 16, 18.
I've empty-nested for a little over a year now. It was less of a nest situation than it was a ship I was tossed overboard from, tumbling in the water and finding which way is up. The saying goes that the only thing that is constant in any situation is one's self, so I clung to what I knew and that was my creativity. At the same time I opened up to applying that to new scenarios to grow with. It's been a year of incubating.
A dear art licensing friend is escaping to Florence, Italy for 2 months (see FiftyJewels.com blog - Kimberly is grabbing the next 50 years by the jewels and living intentionally beautifully and she wants you to as well!) She made the mistake of inviting me to visit during that time - if you follow my Instagram or FB you know I say YES to travel! The creative inspiration will be off the charts.
When booking my trip and zeroing in on dates, today, this 20 year anniversary of going into labor seemed like the appropriate way to mark my own 'rebirth' if you will. I will be 'laboring' on the plane tonight, and will land on February 22, my wonderful daughter's birthday, marking my own rebirth-day into the next stage after Stark Raving Motherhood (with a svelter body than my 9 month preggers.)
Like a new baby, I don't know exactly what the journey will be like but I know she will look like me and she will be creative in her approach to life. She will take whatever is in front of her and make it work, she will create something from nothing and from all of the inspiration that is in her path. She will share it with the world with the end goal of making the journey better for everyone.
By the end of the trip she may look 9 months pregnant again from all of the Italian eating she is about to do...
Like a new baby, I don't know exactly what the journey will be like but I know she will look like me and she will be creative in her approach to life. She will take whatever is in front of her and make it work, she will create something from nothing and from all of the inspiration that is in her path. She will share it with the world with the end goal of making the journey better for everyone.
By the end of the trip she may look 9 months pregnant again from all of the Italian eating she is about to do...
Once a mother, always a mother, but the Stark Raving part seems to have graduated. (The Stark Raving Motherly Worrying remains a permanent fixture as all mothers will attest to.) So it seems appropriate to conclude this blog with this post, which will also be the first post of my next blog reflecting the next phase of life. I'm ready to call it that and embrace it, thanks in large part to Kimberly, who really walks the 50 Jewel walk and is showing that it's a "buona cosa", a good thing!
