life as myth

JOURNAL 2020

ONCE UPON A TIME

I love illuminated manuscripts and they were an influence on this work but stained glass is probably a better metaphor for the project, as the piece narrates the transformation of color through the lens of one day. Consider. If you watch a stained glass window you will see it change. The window glass remains fixed but when combined with light, as it is meant to be, the glass transforms over time. It's more than the shifting of colors. If you watch carefully, it can also hold the flickering shadow of branches or a bird's wings. It can shift the light in the interior space, as a chapel brightens or dims or holds a puddle of rainbow light on floor and walls. [Let's] consider the fundamental truth of the stained glass: Time is at play in the world. - "Once upon a time" (2018)

Over Christmas dinner. One of my sons asks, What's your New Year's resolution?

I didn't have an answer. I mostly thought about the gift of Time.

Life has provided a reminder very recently that we're not immortal. Mine was -- I injured my spine this fall. It took longer to heal than expected but I'm finally on the road back. I’m also really grateful for the good people at the spine clinic that have helped me get here.

New Year's resolution. What to do with the gift of my time? When Mom died -- it was around last year this time -- someone asked which one of her children love to garden, too. And the answer from my sibs was "Wesley". Isn't it strange to hear things about yourself through others' eyes? I haven’t thought of myself as a “gardener” though I've been planning a garden ever since I moved back to Georgia. So maybe this is the year to figure out a way to push that dream garden further along.

New Year's resolution and what to do with the gift of my time?

There's one other thing about Mom. Her love of writing and her wish that she had given more of her time to it. She advocated for me to write all my adult life -- and that is knocking around in my head today as I reflect on how I might invest my precious gift of time. Not what to dabble in during the next year. But what to invest in. Since the spine injury I've made a few lifestyle changes that might be steps forward. One change is a standing desk in my little studio. Just waiting for me every morning -- to put pen to paper, paint to paper, hands to keyboard.

An explanation for the photo in this post. It’s a stained glass window from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, one of my favorite places - anywhere. Today is the feast day of St. John. Patron saint of love, loyalty, friendships, and all things writing. So I'm writing this morning and going over my old journals and thinking about the garden of my recent dreams. And feeling grateful for love and friendship and healing and Mom. And for the gift of time.

New Year’s resolution? Carpe diem, y’all.