The creative life balance

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Sewing from two night's ago; oh good did this feel!

I'm back in the swing of most activities, although my beloved remains partially sequestered. We did enjoy Blake Snell's no hitter against the Cincinnati Reds last night, watching the San Francisco Giants' victory IN THE SAME ROOM. Social distancing is becoming a chore, but until the threat of covid has been erased, so be the power of six feet of separation.

In the meantime.... I've been deeply pondering a 2018 quote by Mark Beaumont, writing for the New Musical Express, concerning Kate Bush's life/work balance. To simply paraphrase Beaumont, Kate Bush has deemed life to take precedence over the work, not the other way round. Further in the article Beaumont notes how her later output never felt like comeback attempts, rather more like priceless views into the attic of Bush's creative soul. Again I'm paraphrasing; here's a link to the article.

Boy that quote whirled in my head! Earlier this year I made the conscious decision to dial back on the writing and sewing, semi-retirement I called it. Not that I have anyone breathing down my neck, other than Present Me, Myself, and I. I can hear Future Me giggling wildly while Past Me grunts; I think she mumbled, "Old people!" I smile, and continue with this post, in that yes, I have previously put a lot of pressure on myself to craft and sew because.... What else do I do? I am blessed to not work outside our home, and especially now being a long-distance grandmother, free time piles up like nobody's business. I don't like feeling idle, another reason I like having something TO DO. But OMG the last few weeks have taught me that I can want in one hand and have covid in the other and within the covid hand my cup runneth over.

When I was little, my dad used to say, "You can want in one hand and cry in the other and see which gets full the fastest." Jeez Louise it took me forever to understand that saying, but he was absolutely right. Despite my clean bill of health, my household isn't completely correct while my husband remains out of reach. Where does the creative life balance fit into all this? Well, I'm still working on that because 1) I'm not a retired pop icon. And 2) semi-retirement is still a very new consideration, even if I first pondered it back in March. It's now the third of August, and while I've managed some hand-stitching and a few baby quilts, my sewing machine has been under its cover since the middle of June, I've not written more than letters. I have grand plans, but life has muscled its decisive way to the forefront. What I wish to do is severely outweighed by external forces.

Not through tears, thankfully. Merely by accepting with a modicum of grace that stuff happens, throwing askew my nicely arranged plans. Okay, I nod to Future Me, now smiling widely. I shoot Past Me a kind gaze, but again she grunts, shaking her head. I'm not bothered, because I can easily recall her energy and enthusiasm. Which I still possess, if only in my brain, tempered gently by the realization of age, time, illness, and gratitude for the ability and wherewithal to want to craft more than the morning's cuppa. More about this as the days progress. While those days whip past at lightning speed, I'll be seated on the sofa, slowly stitching and pondering my next novel move....

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