Mixed Bag

So this year has been a mixed bag of good things - 2 large installations done, some artwork sold at group shows and a 2-person show coming up in January at a local college - and bad things - my stepson is fighting depression and acting out with riskier and riskier behavior, and I was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of weeks ago. Same kind of cancer that killed my mother.

I'm trying to look on all this as an adventure and learning experience. Not long after I was diagnosed, I was reading about the people lost on Mt. Hood. They chose their adventure and at least one of them has died, probably all three. And the thought I had was that sometimes we choose the adventure, and sometimes it comes to us without warning. We may survive, or we may not. Once we are in the throes, we only have two choices - to give up or to work to survive as hard as we can. I'm educating myself and I'll be using the opportunity to teach as well. I plan on surviving.

I'm having a bilateral mastectomy at the end of January. I don't know what the recovery time will be or whether I'll have to have chemo or radiation - they won't know about that until during or shortly after the surgery. So I don't have many art plans for the spring. I was hoping to get a new piece ready for the FWCAC Biennial, but I may have to use one I've already done for the January North Lake College show. I won't be able to do the IC Apprentice program this year - no way I can get ready for a large installation in March - I'll be out of "service" for 6 weeks at least.

I took a notebook of my work to show both my internist and my surgeon, so they know what I do. I think it helps to personalize me, so that I'm not just a cancerous breast. I have a nice body of work (ha! a little pun there) - just spread out over thirty years. I want to have a chance to do more. Jim Malone and I want to do a show together after I recover. I'm looking forward to that. I want to develop some other series - I want to do some prints, some OIL paintings! I'm so inexperienced with oils. I also picture flying down the road on my bike, or panting as I hike a beautiful mountain path. Jewels and I want to get healthy enough to get outdoors more. I miss camping and hiking and biking. To hell with work schedules!