It has been a strange couple of years, full of changes
many of us could never have predicted. For me, it has just gotten stranger,
although not in a bad way. Tuesday, March 15th marks my last day as
manager and executive director of The Artisans’ Guild, the artists’ cooperative
shop my friend Ellie and I started over 22 years ago. As of Wednesday the 16th,
I will officially be a full-time writer.
The Guild has been the center of my universe for a
long time, and I have been blessed to have a job that I loved (most days), and
to have spent my life surrounded by beautiful things and fabulous, creative
people. But in the end, trying to balance the demands of the shop and the
demands of writing because impossible, and I had to make a choice. Thankfully,
we were able to find someone to step into my shoes who I believe can help the
Guild to continue to prosper and grow.
People have asked me how I am going to celebrate
leaving the shop, and to be honest, I don’t really feel like celebrating letting
go of such an important piece of my life and my identity. It is, I won’t kid
you, a loss in many ways. Instead, I will celebrate embracing my role as
author, and hopefully, my increasing success in the days ahead. I guess we’ll
see, won’t we. Life is full of difficult choices, and there is no progress without
change.
All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner
of things shall be well. Fingers crossed.