Jessica

Doing Our Art Thing Even After Loss

My last post was on a day that forever changed my life. The date was March 16, 2022 and it was the same day my momma wasn’t feeling quite right and went to her local hospital. Local to her is 8 hours from me…

March 17, 2022, she called me from the hospital saying the tests showed that she’d had a stroke. Neither of us could believe it. That prompted an ambulance ride to a big hospital in a nearby big city and a 9 hour drive to Nebraska for us.

Multiple huge diagnoses followed, 4 days later. Imagine waves crashing crazily over the side of a boat or the fear that kicks up when a weather man announces a rain-wrapped tornado- that is what it felt like hearing all of that.

My momma handled the news pretty well and was prepared to fight. Unfortunately, she didn’t get a chance to, and she passed 5 days later.

To say that all the days since then have been a whirlwind would be accurate. Because of a booked building, there was quite a time lapse between the visitation and the life celebration. In the days between the them, came that craft show I told you guys about.

THE craft show I had been prepping for, the one I bought the tables for and had set up in my basement. The one I had been so excited about prior to March 17.

Suddenly, I was completely torn. Should I still do the show? What if I cried the entire time? What if I saw moms and daughters shopping and had one of those snot-filled cries in front of them? Crying-while-there was at the forefront of my thoughts.

The show was to be held at a local church and with the encouragement of my dad and brother, I stepped over the crying ’what ifs’ and decided to do it. I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time somebody cried in a church, right?

Well… I did cry, but only like 9 times, ha ha. But, I did it! Plus, all of my craft show lessons paid off. I had:

  • a color theme
  • art at different heights to draw the eye in
  • displays that flowed
  • my sign at eye level
  • tables with a variety pieces
  • price tags that could be seen
  • different price points
  • a welcoming space to shop

It was a pretty slow day, shopper wise, but some cool things did happen:

  • A gal liked my cat piece, but I think it may have been out of her price range, so I gave it to her. Later on, she gave me something from her booth that she’d made.
  • A potential customer said she didn’t have any money with her, so I asked her- if she did, what would she choose? Then, I gave her the piece. She came back several hours later and gave me a book she’d written! How cool is that?
  • When it was really slow, I wandered around in the sanctuary. The pews, piano, and stained glass brought such a comfort to me that day and I realize that if I hadn’t done the show, I wouldn’t have seen them.

The show was on April 9. Since then, I haven’t created any art. The desire hasn’t been there, but luckily, it is returning. I ordered some jewelry pieces recently that are so gorgeous. I hope to start creating again soon.

My momma was an artist, too. I think she’d want me to keep doing my thing. If it was the other way around, I’d sure want her to keep doing hers. ❤️

Here are some pictures from that April 9th craft show.

P.S. I wanted to tell you that I have another blog I write and share pictures on. It’s https://unmeasuredjourneys.com if you’re interested.

Thanks for reading this long, catch up post. It means a lot to me.

Jessica

my sign
my art at the craft show
the cat piece I gave to someone
I had magnets of my art made
I had greeting cards of my art made
some of my pieces at the craft show

15 comments

  2. I’m so sorry about your mom. Losing a parent is hard at the best of times, I can’t even imagine dealing with something so unexpected. Your art will return. My “art” is writing. We lost both of my parents and my MIL over the course of 18 months; I wrote very little during that time. It took a long time for me to be able to sit down in front of my laptop without bursting into tears.

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    • Oh gosh, my heart broke a little for you, reading about your losses. That’s a lot in not much time. And, parent loss, for me anyway, isn’t like other losses. It’s unimaginable. I’m sorry to hear you went through that. Thank you for telling me about bursting into tears- similar boat here. It’s getting a bit better though. The medical shock is wearing down somewhat. Now it’s mostly just lots of missing her. Tons. Thank you for commenting. Means a lot! ❤️

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    • Hi. Thank you, I appreciate that. It has been difficult for sure. ❤️ Wow, thank you for saying ‘stunning.’ That’s amazingly kind. I’m definitely happy that I did the show, looking back. Mom knew I had that show coming up, so my dad and brother were great about giving me the nudges I needed to go to it.

      My craft/art area was where I was sitting when I got the call from mom when she was in the hospital. We went and got to see her, but being back in my art space has been hard. Today I’m going to refresh my area and add flowers and things and try to get ‘back to work.’ ❤️❤️❤️ Hope you are doing great. Thank you for commenting.

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  7. mY Darling-my heart breaKS FOR YOU. I know what you mean about the time after loss. I do love your art. Art is a work that seeps out from some deep place inside of us, I think. I know that I can write a word when I am hurt-or disaPPOINTED-OR ANGRY! You do what you can, as you can-Could you make something out of your moms’ jewelery? My sister made all of us a quilt out of my dads’ shirts. love love love-a rabbit

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    • Franscesca ❤️❤️❤️ My, you have a way with words. I’m soaking in the part about art and seeps.

      Ohhh, I love that your sister did that with his shirts. How comforting that must be. I remember how much I loved reading your posts about your momma and daddy when I first started blogging on my other blog. I felt a connection reading about Sunday dinners and such.

      I’m going to ponder that idea- of making something with her jewelry. I thought of it weekssssssss ago, but time jumped in and ran off with the idea. Thank you for reintroducing it. ❤️ Love to you. This parent loss stuff is extremely difficult. My heart goes out to you over your daddy. Hugs.

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