Setting Off

I almost did it at the close of December 2013. Five years seemed an opportune time to stop, an appropriate anniversary to draw to a close this ongoing narrative.  I began writing in this space as a teacher and one who needed a place to step out of her classroom for musing about other aspects of life and identity.  I began this space to catalogue my knitting, to consider what I created in my kitchen, and to ponder life and family a bit.  So for a nickel of years, I did that, and it has served well my hopes of providing time for reflection and a place to preserve some family stories.

One of my professors once said he believed that each teacher has a few intrinsic themes guiding her life, and she fundamentally teaches from those themes.  I found truth in that, not only in my teaching life but in my overall life as well.  In this blog, I have written on and around the themes coursing through me.  The stories captured here pretty well represent the flow and flavor of my life and my days. I am content with their tales.

This past spring at my daughter's art show opening, someone asked her how she knew when a painting was done.  "That is a good question," she responded and then proceeded to describe how she comes to that point when she just knows it is finished.  For almost a month, I have not settled into this space to add anything....that itself is telling.

I still knit, I still sew, I still putter in my kitchen, I still walk about and notice and think about the bigger story and what it all means, but the urges that drew me here have shifted, and this volume has reached its conclusion.  New stories whisper to be written as new paths unfold to be explored, but for reasons not entirely clear, this shall no longer be the canvas I use; this painting is finally finished.