This year was a year of change. It didn't start out that way - it began as most years do, with resolutions & business plans & such. But this summer, my father-in-law suffered a medical emergency, and by mid-August he was gone. He was laid to rest in a beautiful spot right by my husband, who passed seven years ago.One month later, I had applied and been accepted to graduate school. (It's a low-residency program, so I will still be in Salem to create portrait art for you all. No worries!) I chose an MFA program in Creative Writing at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. It's about an hour drive from my home via the back roads, so the twice-yearly pilgrimage to on-campus seminars will be an easy one.
We can never see our future, not really, but I have the strong sense that my love of photography & my love of writing will somehow be intertwined. Perhaps creative books with portraits of my clients & a written tale of their lives? Perhaps a collaboration of my visual & written art? Perhaps a reality much bigger & better than any I can imagine?
I think that is the message of this year. Our dreams are only the beginning. Our futures - yours, mine - will be grander & stranger than what we can envision. Rather than trying to glimpse (and plan) it all before we dare begin, we need to pray & trust & fly out our doors every day, because wonderful adventures await.
A very merry Christmas to you all.
