But there is so much more that makes us who we are...not just our childhood....but the people we meet along the path of life. Yesterday, I reconnected with a very important part of my creative soul, my friend Liz. We probably haven't been in touch in at least 3 years, and it was sheer joy to hear her voice on the other end of the telephone! I don't think she has any idea what an impact she had on my creative life, so here's my story about Liz!
I need to go back a bit in time and explain that both of my sons were quite ill most of their childhood days. I worked full time and spent my free time taking them to doctors, taking care of their medical needs..and I just did not get to play for several years. OK, so I forgot how to play. In 1988, the doctors told me that my oldest son would be dead in 2 years. I refused to believe them, took him out of the hospital against medical advice and "ran away" to San Diego, and went to work full time at trying to get him into reasonable health. (It must have worked...he's almost 29 years old!!)
About 1991, Liz hired me to work for her. We were working in health care administration. Hey! It paid the bills! She made porcelain dolls. Wonderful, beautiful, gorgeous porcelain dolls. And the most exquisite costumes you can imagine! I wanted to be just like Liz!
She got me started in doll classes. It was my first venture into anything creative....for me. Oh, I did the usual mom/craft stuff with my kids....I even had a business where I made mohair teddy bears before the boys got so ill.
But this was the first time that I was creating something that I loved, for me, just because I wanted to do it. What joy! What sheer joy!!!
The first doll that I ever made is the second to the right.Once I started making dolls, I started repairing and restoring dolls (another topic, another day) but here's a photo of a couple of dolls that I restored. Just love them!
From making porcelain dolls, to repairing dolls, to selling rubber stamps in my antique shop, to scrapbooking, stamping, metal repoussee.....and then to art clay silver and dichroic glass....wow! I guess we can say that once the creative door was opened, I sort of went crazy!
The moment I heard Liz's voice on the phone yesterday, a flood of memories came back to me. I guess I should tell her that it's all her fault that I play the way I do today! It's all her fault that I got my creative juices flowing again after years of nothing. I guess it's all her fault.....oh! It's so good to have friends you can blame yourself on! LOLOL!!!
Thanks Liz!!! - by the way....it's all our fault!!!
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