Why Say No?

Whew! I have to say that I now need a vacation from my vacation! It’s been a busy two weeks, though I certainly can’t complain about a week in Boca Grande, my favorite place in the whole wide world, especially now that I’m able to enjoy it with my own family. More on that later this week. For now, take a look at this lovely little gem that I just got from my dear friend Wyanne. She said it describes her to a tee; it also describes me to a tee! Guess that’s why we like each other so much! It’s going to hang in my newly reorganized “Good Mess” of a workshop. What she said about this painting got me thinking, and that thinking was followed up by more thinking after another dear friend told me I need to learn how to say “no” because I always tend to be moving in 37 different directions (yes, that is possible as there are certainly more than 37 different bones in your body, and 37 is my favorite number). I thought about that for a while, and I realized I have no problem saying “no”.

Truth is, I have no problem saying “no” to the things I truly don’t want to do. But I do have a problem saying “no” to things I really do want to do. And there’s just so much I really want to do, so why should I say no? How’s that old saying go? “You only regret the things you never did” or something along that line. Of course, I want to keep designing jewelry. And I want to start working on my new collage-stamp oriented designs while keeping up my lamp work designs. And I want to do more mixed media collage. And I want to go back to doing some woodcut pieces (since I keep tripping over the remnants of my previous festival shelves laid out in the garage as the girls’ “dock”…oh, the things I could do with all that wood…). And I want to make more handbags. Finally got all my fabric out and organized so I can see it all. I have a TON of fabric. And I want to take my overflowing shell collection and put it all in pretty little glass jars. And I want to paint my bedroom. And I want to redecorate my living room. And I want to do more with the Art Spot. And I want to do more with my Etsy group, including volunteering to update that old blog! And I want to do more with my Chi Omega alumnae group. Where is that book club list, anyway? And I want to go visit my friend Gypsy in North Carolina. And I want to go to Europe. And Hawaii. And it would be really cool to visit Karen and Russ in Buenos Aires. And I want to make lots of art and other stuff with my little redheads on their new art table, so they’ll grow up wanting to live life to the fullest and do all they can do without having to worry about learning how to say “no” when they really want to say yes. By watching me do all that I do, I want to teach them that they can do and be anything they want to, whether that be an artist, an astronaut, a dancer, a veterinarian, all the above or something in between. Shouldn’t we all reach for our dreams? The saying we put on our campus marquee this week is “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you still land among the stars.” That about sums it up for me. The girls and I will be shooting for the moon tonight. Wanna come play?

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