It was 6:30 am this morning as I was preparing to leave for one of the biggest shows of my career and I have to admit that I broke down and wept a bit. Not from the exhaustion of all the late nights and early mornings spent getting ready for this thing. And not from the fear of actually doing it. Or any of the million little anxieties threatening to creep up on me (what if nothing sells???); though there is all of that. But from the sheer magnitude of the thing. As in, Oh. My. God. I cant believe I get to do this! (And I do mean God, with a capital G - look God! look what I get to do!) It has been an exhausting couple of weeks of getting ready- my schedule would not allow for even thinking about the show before that. This morning I found my toothpaste in my vanity drawer. Im still looking for my comb. And I seem to have had the reverse Midas touch as I set out to make a body of work to fill my booth walls - everything I touched turned to poop. But finally yesterday I formulated a plan and everything came together at the eleventh hour- literally. It was 11 oclock when I turned out the studio light last night. And Ive just come home from setting up my big girl booth. This isnt my first time at the American Craft Expo. I was here four years ago as an emerging artist and Ive been applying to get back in ever since. The road to get here has been quite a journey with all the usual ups and downs and lessons to be learned along the way. Maybe I havent learned them all as fast as some might think I should, and maybe Im still rolling around a few, but thats life. It isnt linear with a progressive curriculum of lessons to be learned. It is organic and it swirls and twirls and we each learn what we are supposed to learn when we learn it. Or we dont. It can get messy, but as an artist I happen to think that mess can be beautiful. In spite of all that mess, and partly because of it, here I am doing the thing Ive known I was meant to do. When I stood in my little emerging artist space against the back wall four years ago, I knew I was supposed to be here. I once heard Beth Moore speak about a time when she was new to her ministry and a senior pastor told her that her passion and enthusiasm would settle down eventually. Her response was May it never be Lord!. We all have that thing that we are passionate about doing burning deep inside of us. What a shame if you dont know what it is yet. Id encourage you to figure out what it is and get moving on it. And if you happen to be in the area this weekend come on out to the American Craft Expo and see me. Ill be the one tap dancing in my booth from the sheer excitement of it all. And if you hear somebody asking me to settle down, you can bet youll hear me say May it never be Lord! May it never be!
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 23:19:54 +0000
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