The Grind

The week has gone by so fast, and I have definitely been on my grind....with many things. I have almost successfully completed another button piece that I started on Saturday. Yes...the one that is posted. Sewing is becoming second nature. My fingers are not as sore, and I don't have as many stab wounds to attest to the sewing of thousands of buttons. I haven't actually counted how many I have sewn, but it is definitely over 1,000. I will make a big to do about the 10,000 button mark. You all will know about that one for sure. It's a funny thing...I am unable to productively sew buttons outside of the confines of my bedroom. I can do everything else successfully in my studio, but the sewing elsewhere just does not work.

It is absolutely amazing how creativity flows when you just start to give unto it. I guess it is much like anything else. You give and you receive. Some call it the law of reciprocity, but I accredit it to the Lord. Call me super spiritual if you would like, however I would have lost the little bit of sense that I have without Him. They say that you must walk a mile in someones shoes to really know where they have been. I say, I don't want to walk a mile in any ones shoes, but my own. See we view folks on the tube, in our neighborhoods, sometimes family and friends that have millions, but we have no idea what they had to endure to get there. Remember people...the grass always looks greener on the other side, but what did that side have to do to make their grass so green? Did they water it daily (put in honest and necessary work to make it)? Did they use fertilizer (got some help from trusty friends and family using their networking skills)? Did they roll out fresh grass over top old and dead grass (Desperate times call for desperate measures...they hooked and crooked or slept their way to the top. They cover up their dirt with glitz and glamour that looks good on the outside.)? Just some food for thought!

In Other News:

Graham is moving back to her old abode tomorrow. It's rather strange, but she is elated. Talk about the grass being greener on the other side. I guess she thought being here was going to be a walk in the park. Although our home is a great spot to be in...much to her dismay, it was not a five star resort. Not because it couldn't be, but because we didn't allow it to be for her. Here she had to do some things for herself (not that she didn't at her old abode). Truthfully, she has a better support system (one that she is accustom to) at her old abode. She must return by tomorrow to get some important paperwork filled out and signed.

So her departure will be tomorrow, but of course without a bang of an exit. She is taking the train. One would think that was simple enough. We take you all the way to the platform, get on the train with you to make sure that you are situated, ask the conductor to keep a close eye on you to make sure that you are alright and that you don't miss your stop, and someone will be on the other end to do the same when you arrive to your destination. Not with Graham though. She is too sick and weak to do the above routine. It is way too much walking for her (although we have assured her that we could get a wheelchair if need be), and she would rather be driven to her 2 hour destination. Here are her options for who could drive her (although they are not options at all):

D: My cousin. He works 3rd shift and has a family that consists of a wife and four children (aging from 1 to 13). So she doesn't want to ask him. He has to work and has a family to take care of. He needs to get rest.

Jim: My cousin as well. Age 70 and is recovering from a heart attack he had 3 weeks ago. She doesn't really want to ask him either, although he is back to work. He should not be up and about. He needs to rest and recover.

*She doesn't want to bother either of these family members, but has no problem mentioning that she was going to ask them to take her hadn't the above circumstances been existing. All in hopes that they would make an exception this one time for her.

Sieg: A child from her old stomping ground. Okay...he is no longer a child, but she helped to raise him (you know...it takes a village to raise a child). She has no problem asking him, but has had trouble catching up with him until today. She couldn't find his phone number, as she has not spoken to him in years. She had been calling every contact that she knew to get it, and today she got her golden ticket. However, it wasn't so golden when she found out that he was not able to oblige her request. He doesn't do much highway driving, and has two jobs.

Bottom line...Graham will be riding the rails tomorrow, much to her chagrin. She will get over it and tell us how pleasurable her trip was, once it is over. That is just how it goes for her.

Although she was only here for a short time, I learned a lot about her and myself. She offered more inspiration than she would ever know. She opened the door to allow me to do what the Spirit that lived within me was telling me to do all along. She doesn't know it, but she allowed me to have faith in what I knew to be right. I've always loved her, but love and respect her all the more for what she has done.

Pearls of Wisdom:

Family quarrels have a total bitterness unmatched by others. Yet it sometimes happens that they also have a kind of tang, a pleasantness beneath the unpleasantness, based on the tacit understanding that this is not for keeps; that any limb you climb out on will still be there later for you to climb back.

~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

Do you honor your family although sometimes they may not be worthy of honoring?

Be blessed!