The Connectedness of Blessings - and a Give Away

Just last night, I was complaining to my husband that I felt artistically isolated now that we were back in our old home town.  While I am starting to make amazing connections through my blog and other internet social networks, I often feel jealous of other fellow creatives that have a physical connection with other artsy friends that they can spend time with, create art together, and inspire and support each other in each of their own artistic life journey's.  I wanted a bit of that here in my environment.  It was wrong to pout about it, but it was a weak moment, I'll admit.

image from stock.xchng

Then this morning, while gaining consciousness over a LARGE cup of coffee, I happened to check my email and found a message from a newly emerging friendship.  This was a person that I connected with over the internet 2 weeks ago and turned out that we knew each other as children through our home school group.  She was also a mom who had traded her creative and artistic endeavors for the journey of marriage and motherhood.  She, like me, was yearning to carve out a space in her life for that piece of her to re-emerge.  We have been emailing back and forth over the last couple weeks and I realized this morning that SHE was a friend, SHE was artsy, SHE was local, and SHE would get that side of me that HAS to be creative and HAS to make something beautiful that has nothing to do with being a wife or a mother and just being beautiful wonderful ME.  I feverishly wrote her back and proposed that we make some plans soon to sit in the same room and build this friendship.

 A Mixed Media Work In Progress...

At this same time, while finishing my breakfast in the living room with my husband and son, currently distracted with replying to said email, a new message notification popped up on my screen  "RE: YOU  Message: Are Special. I Love You. love, me (best husband ever)"  - if you are wondering, Yes, he really did label himself the "best husband ever" (and its true).  I looked up from the screen to see Him across the room, holding his fancy new phone, and smiling at me.

best husband ever, the day I married him 2004

After breakfast came a knock at the front door, it was our incredibly friendly neighborhood mailman.  This man is wonderful, cheerful, happy, loves to chat and get to know the people on his route.  We had not crossed paths with him since we moved back into the house, and then there he was on our porch holding a package.  After a few exchanged pleasantries and catching up, he paused and looked at my husband and myself and said very genuinely, "Welcome back to the neighborhood, folks.  We missed having you around this last year." I was so touched. 

Welcome back to the Neighborhood!

After bidding our postal worker a Good Day, I took the small package inside and discovered it was for me.  I had completely forgotten about an order I made from Amazon Marketplace earlier last week.  Really excited now, I ripped open the packaging and there it was, the used copy of Sabrina Ward Harrison's book "Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself" that I had scored for only $2 +shipping.  I had been craving this book for so long, as I am a HUGE SWH fan and find her to be very inspiring for my own art.  I fanned through a few pages and such motivational words flew at me begging for me to pay attention.

Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself

I was inspired and  my hands ached to create something beautiful. I grabbed up a lovely painting that I had started a month ago, but had to put on hold while we were packing up  and moving back into our home.   I had started working on her again yesterday, but there was just something missing to make it feel complete, and so I had put it aside again last night.  Now I put the painting back on the easel, my hands knew exactly what to do to finish it exquisitely.   An hour later, she was done, lovely, simple, and it felt so good.

Completed Piece - Detail

"Me and My Balloon" by Harmony

Mixed Media Painting on Mounted Canvas 2010

Later after lunch, I went out to the mailbox to retrieve the rest of the mail, and found several letters inside. Thumbing through some very ordinary and boring envelopes I found 2 letters for me.  I nervously opened the first one.  Hooray!! I had been accepted into the HUGE local Christmas Craft Show.  Then the second envelope in hand, I tore it open and "Hooray Again!!"  I was also accepted into a really big Fall Folk Art Festival.  

Me, being silly and excited, and some sort of holy presence next to me, 

also equally as excited about my being accepted into the craft festivals

How could I be so blessed, so loved, so accepted?

I feel inspired to bless someone else today too.  So I am taking all this positive energy and love from my Creator and His Universe and giving it back.  There will be 2 winners.  Each winner will receive one 8X10 print of my newly completed painting "Me and My Balloon".  To enter the give away please do the following by June 30th:

1. Promote this giveaway on at least one of your social networks (ie: facebook, blog, twitter, etc) 

2. Leave a comment below and let us know how you have been blessed recently.