At the end of September I looked back at the list I’d made at the start of the month. It had four things on it. I wanted to finish a new pattern for Four Robbins, clean out the garage so we could get the second car inside before winter, clean and organize my studio so … Read more
There is a point in preparing for something when more research stops changing what you would do next. You may have read about it, compared your options, asked around and watched enough videos that you already know what the first step would be. And you are still preparing. Sometimes that makes sense, because some decisions … Read more
I have a pretty good idea of what I would say matters to me. Family. My health. Work I care about. Time outside. Experiences. The projects I’ve chosen because I want to see what I can make of them. I could probably make the list without thinking very hard. Where Is Your Time Actually Going? … Read more
I spend a lot of time thinking about what comes next. There are trips Tom and I want to take, things we want to do to the house, work I want to do with Handcrafted Adventure and Four Robbins, and changes I’m making with my health. Some of those things have dates attached to them. … Read more
Tom’s birthday was Saturday and mine was Sunday. Next year, I turn 60. I’ve known that, obviously. Birthdays aren’t exactly sneaky. But sometime recently I started thinking differently about the year between 59 and 60. I don’t want to arrive at 60 and realize I spent most of the year doing whatever was already in … Read more
We spend a lot of time thinking about what we want. Much less time thinking about what getting it will require—from us and from the people around us.
I’ve stayed with things longer than I should have simply because I’d already put so much time into them. Years ago, I decided to try selling some of the things I made at craft fairs. I spent weeks making inventory and getting everything ready for the first one. I hated it. Not making things. I … Read more
Some days it isn’t the big decisions that wear you out. It’s all the little ones. What’s for dinner? Should we go somewhere this weekend or stay home? Do I answer one more email or call it a day? None of those decisions are especially important. Yet by the end of the day, they can … Read more
It’s the last week of July. I just looked at the calendar and realized we’re four days from August. I seem to have this realization every year. Summer always feels longer when it’s ahead of you than when you’re living it. We’ve had a good summer. We took the train to Chicago, went to a … Read more
The first trauma I was called into, I was afraid. I wasn’t afraid I’d fail. I’d simply never been in a room like that before. Fear doesn’t mean you can’t do it. I know that now. I didn’t know it then. A man who had been shot, bullet lodged in his T-spine. When I got … Read more