My walking and nature photography companion, Spot, has been gone now for six months... there has not been a day to go by that I do not think of him. My heart doesn't ache as badly as it did, but the emptiness is still felt. Those of you who are animal lovers may understand how I feel... but when your 24/7 companion collapses at your feet as he takes his last breath when you were totally not expecting it, I must say that it is something that spoke louder to me than anything about his love, loyalty and companionship. Whew! I did it. Hopefully, now you'll understand more of my ramblings over the past few months...
As you know, I am a strong believer of God and His hand in my life. He does answer our prayers. And He has answered so many of mine... granted not necessarily the way that I had requested for my prayers to be answered, but He answered them in the way that He knew they were best for me. His way of letting me know He was listening and He's always with me. I am never alone as He is always there with me and for me. And now He has my Spot... speaking to me every time I see a robin and snowflakes.
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| Color inspiration from Stokes Beginner's Guide to Birds: Eastern Region (1996) |
I have a challenge group on Facebook that has been quiet for 23 weeks now because of a "break" I had to take... and as I may have shared before, I feel that Spot had a hand in it some way. He knew that I missed him... and he knew that I needed to keep making my cards. I was having a hard time finding card inspiration through my pictures as he was not there with me... Benji, his little brother, was eagerly ready to fill his paws for me, but the pandemic and the weather had me down. So I pushed my way through some creativity hurdles with the help of Spot and Benji. Benji even helped with his first challenge in the group featuring a robin... Benji's Robin for Spot is what I have lovingly called it. I felt that Spot was speaking to Benji through the robin... letting us know that it was going to be ok for me and Benji to continue the tradition I had started with Spot.
Lots of tears were shed during the first two weeks without him and I feel that I was creating some of my best cards as I was coping with my loss. Then out of the blue (pun intended!), I received an e-mail from Lydia Fiedler that totally changed my perspective and I've been going creatively strong ever since!
I was asked to be a member of the Dirty Dozen design team - what a privilege this has been!!! I had to keep my secret for almost three weeks... and then I created six cards each month for six months that I could only share in the Fan Club Gallery of the month. Talk about hard!!! This was a creative challenge from a cardmaker who loves to SHARE her creations!!! So starting next month, I will begin sharing six of my Dirty Dozen creations with you each month. Can you tell that I'm just a bit excited?!?
Yesterday, shortly before 5:00pm, was the six month mark of life without Spot.... the day was rather eventful for me with the reveal of my last projects on the Dirty Dozen design team as next month, I'll be an official alum! I had a blog hop which amazingly was the same blog hop group that I had shared the loss of him six months earlier... but this time, I didn't even mention him. It had rained for most of the day so Benji and I did not go walking. Tears from heaven is how I look at it now as it would have been way too hard to walk yesterday with everything that I creatively had to accomplish. The day came and went just like a snap. And today the sun was shining with birds everywhere! And a robin crossed my path numerous times... making me smile, look up at it and say "Spot, I love you and miss you dearly" as Benji looked up at me with his big eyes. No tears, today, only smiles... as I was also greeted by the passing by of two cardinals. Which, yes, Dad and Aunt Ann popping through my thoughts and making me chuckle as I knew they were both having a ball in heaven celebrating their birthdays.
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| My card entry for Benji's first photo inspiration challenge (#NICapril2020) surprisingly has the same sentiment that I created yesterday for the blog hop! Yes, I think that was my way of letting Spot know that I was doing ok, yet, missing him. |
So, yes, today's blog post is a bit out of my norm for those of you who normally pop by to read how to create a card that I have shared with you. I am hoping that now you know that there's so much more in the cards that I'm sharing... my love of God, my love of nature, my love of life and my love for those that I love whether they are here with me in this beautiful world or they have gone on to the world that we long to be a part of one day as we have the biggest family reunion of all with all of those who have gone before us.
May you have a blessed day and remember to step outside, breathe, and enjoy the glorious wonders around you!
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