Sunday 30 June 2013

The Crow and I

the crow calls

Once upon a time, there was a woman of a certain age who wondered what she would do with the rest of her life. The call to her career was fading, and nothing was replacing it.

So, on a rainy camping holiday on the West coast, she set out on vision quest, deliberately keeping her heart and mind open. She journaled, she prayed, she read, she listened, she paid attention to her dreams, always hoping to catch a glimpse of the “big thing” that would grab hold of her and guide her into a fulfilling future.

But after several weeks with no great blinding flash of illumination, she decided to just relax and enjoy the rest of the trip. That’s when it came to her: she would combine her two joys – quilting and writing –  to communicate the thing she cared the very most about: spiritual and personal growth. The seed of a dream was planted.

That woman was me. I’d been writing and editing professionally for many years, and I’d been quilting for even longer. I was also stretching my wings, exploring what I really believed, and wondering how the questions I was asking would impact my life. It was an exciting, scary time. Writing and quilting were the tools I instinctively used to make sense of what was happening, and to give me insights and understanding.

Now it’s seven years later. Recently I completed a piece of quilt art depicting a crow. Precious beads are flowing from her mouth. She’s a symbol of myself, hoping that as I age I will have something to say, and the courage to say it. The crow is also talking to me: “It’s time,” she says. “It’s time to make your dream come true.”

So welcome to Crow: Day One.. This is the year I turned 65, and my project is to blog this year. Every Sunday, I hope to post a piece of quilt art accompanied by written thoughts and insights about our collective journey through this life. As a wife, sister, mother, grandmother, friend, writer, artist, and lifelong quester, who knows what these blogs will look like? I find life endlessly interesting, sometimes funny and sometimes serious, sometimes beautiful and sometimes ugly. I’d like to share some of it with you.

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The crow calls. The crow talks. Who knows what she will say?