Like the presence of a loved one passed? Or the comfort of someone who's miles away from you?
Is it a particular chair? A room? Your church? The beach? A mountain top?
Is it a place where you find peace and tranquility?
I'm not at all embarrassed to admit that sometimes I need to chat with my parents. I'm sure all of you have experienced that same desire; to reach out to someone gone from this earth. Where I go to connect to my father and mother are two very different places, but at both locations I find peace.
Even though my parents are buried side-by-side, I only feel my father during my monthly visits to take new flowers to their graveside. That is where I'm able to talk to him and know that he's listening and ready to give advise (He was always ready to give advice. Dad had an answer for every question.) Maybe it's because he never stepped foot in this beautiful house in which we now live that I don't feel his presence in my home. Who knows? I just know that standing over his graveside is a place of peace for me.
Mother, on the other hand, is with me here. She's in every part of the house, but in particular still in what used to be her bedroom. Everything has been redecorated with new paint and new furniture, the clothes that were in her closet have been replaced with my cocktail dresses, and her double bed has been replaced with a queen for guests - yet she's still there. She's not at the cemetery; hers is an empty hole. So, it's to her bedroom where I go to talk about things that my husband tires of hearing, find solace and re-ground myself; my place of peace.
I also find comfort in my "Studio Sydney." It's not the kind of place to go for tranquility, because right now it's an explosive mess. But it's definitely my place of re-nourishment. I believe everyone should have a place to go to fuel their creative juices. Even if you think you aren't creative, I promise, you are.
I really shouldn't be admitting this online for the world (okay my close friends) to see, but this is what my studio looks like right now. (It's was actually worse that this picture shows.)
What a freaking mess.
Feeling energetic and ready to take on a new project (because the ba-zillion unfinished projects aren't enough), I walked into Studio Sydney this morning and realized why I haven't felt connected lately. Look at this mess! How can anyone think straight in this?
I've been neglectful (no kidding) in putting things away as I use them, and all too ready to start something new (can you say, "Squirrel!?"), when I haven't even finished what I was already working on. (I know. I've written about this problem I have in a previous post.) It looked like an atom bomb exploded in the northeast corner of my house.
It was time to re-organize and clean up, which is what then lead to the distraction of writing this blog (another squirrel).
I got to thinking about the emotions that are invoked when I am in certain places; how even the different rooms of my own home lead me to different feelings and discoveries within. For example, my small formal living room is a great place to crack open a book and sit and read; silence. My kitchen is definitely a place of electricity; I love to experiment, create and bake. Being in our camper/trailer sparks an excitement that takes me back to when I was a young Girl Scout; camping under the stars, telling ghosts stories, cooking on the underside of a giant tin can, and checking off requirements for badges. Bicycle riding equates to freedom.
I could go on and on.
The words at the top of the all in my craft room say it all.
But how about you?
What is your place of solace, peace, re-nourishment, re-birth?
Now that Studio Sydney is cleaned up and re-organized, I can concentrate on some of those unfinished projects, that I'll be sharing with you here on my blog. If you look closely, you can see them lined up on the desk.
