Love -- Actually

Hello dear friends,

I hope everyone's holidays went well. I must take time to catch up this weekend and feel the connections. Things have been unusually chaotic and sad. I'm sorry to say hubby and I never did get that weekend, but the world kept turning and things pass and we found closeness in other small acts of kindness in the coming weeks.

I'm my grandmothers caretaker and POA and her care changed, unfortunately for the worse and I worried & stressed for her safety. I think most of us in this age group know the challenge of taking care of our parents or elders in this day and age with everyone living longer due to modern medicine. I wonder with Alzheimer's though...she is 96 -- a tuff ol' bird.

Unfortunately my husbands sister decided it was time to check out of this life, but fortunately she was given another chance after a brief coma. All families handle stress differently. I too suffer from dual-diagnosis, addiction/bi-polar. It's a way of life that takes constant vigilance and some days can get the best of you. I've a necklace with the Serenity Prayer on it that I wore frequently these last few weeks. (The words to the prayer are also on the bracelet cuff around the tree) We spent Christmas eve with my Gram and Christmas afternoon in the pysche ward with my SIL. Somehow it was all okay and I was grateful. Things turned out regardless of my worry or stress. I look forward to getting back to my art.

My eldest son gave me a gift for xmas, one intended to help me keep the faith as I progress in my artistic journey. He took one of my SoulCollage pieces, in fact the one I used for my first 'Welcome' on this blog and had it printed, enlarged on velvet matte canvas paper (really pretty paper, wonderful texture.) He wanted me to see how my art would look, bigger, on artistic paper he said. I tried to say it was SoulCollage, not really my art... but there it was...I was surprised and embarrassed, but he looked so darn proud of me what could I say? I smiled with his enthusiasm and had to believe too. One always has to start somewhere. The metaphoric symbolism that it is one that I call "Tea with Friends in the Secret Garden" was not lost on me. It's a very comforting card.

Showing two SoulCollage cards. One is my sobriety/recovery card and one is my bi-polar card. I think you can guess which is which.

Have the Happiest of New Years, looking forward to reading your blogs this weekend.

love-n-light :)