MY Life in the Fast Lane

At our art show/opening the other night a friend commented to me that she didn't know how I did it all.  I honestly haven't heard that from anyone since my girls were young and you, well, you have children and work and some sort of a life.

My oldest is in that world right now, going and going and going.  The youngest is getting ready to jump into the world of motherhood, the roller coaster of parenthood.  It's a world where you can get lost in the daily minutiae of life in general, the me is no longer.  I remember those days, I want to say fondly, but not really.  It was hard work getting them to and from their lives and trying to work and trying to find a smidgen of a second for me.  

I thought that when they were grown and gone that life might slow down, and it did in a way.  So, why not mask, you have a few minutes...LOL!

When they were little there was of course all the school to and fro, the after school activities and I did a bit of volunteering at the schools.  Plus I was also still working at the office but often brought it home in the evenings to do spreadsheets or pay bills, etc., after everyone was in bed.  When they were older and my driving time was not necessarily needed I went back to school myself.  I traded the running around with them to me and my head stuck in a book.  I really never had too much down time.  

Then they flew the coop, we moved, I was still working, and then dealt with the losses.  What to do but PAINT!  The other night I realized that I traded a lot of those tasks for yet another aspect of my life, my art journey.  It takes a lot of time and effort to not only create works of art but, if you want to sell, compete or make a name, it is hard to do.  I am constantly looking at the various venues to have shows, or online on the websites that broker the art shows all over the country.  I can spend days reading the prospectuses of the ones I want to enter and then you have to fork out entry fees, have the right size jpeg scans of your images (after you take them to scanners - another cost).  It is almost full time, plus I'm STILL working at our office.  I go there and pay bills, payroll, meet with accountants or insurance people.  I luckily don't have to actually be in the office as much anymore, thank goodness but it's still time away from what I really want to do.  Yet our business is what has allowed me to do my painting, enter shows, and travel to workshops. 

Whew, I need the weekend to just relax my mind sometimes.  Hammock time, rats it's raining, so screened porch it is.