Sit back and relax...this is a long one with only 1 picture

Good mail day today that was right on time!  But first let me back up and share how the new phone plan for my daughter came about...when P. came home she presented the letter to him. He asked me if I had put her up to this of which I shook my head no all the while trying to stay out of it.  P. starts explaining "the proper" use of a cell phone and how little he uses it, blah, blah...Mo is listening and not doing those teen-age gestures that say "parents get on my nerves".  She is actually listening and focused...P. continues on and is covering everything from good consumer habits to budgeting to saving but he is loosing this because just as I"m thinking that he isn't really making sense and is not really responding to her proposal, he comes to me and whispers "i'm not making sense am I?"  Again I shake my head no without saying a word...30 mintutes pass...Mo never goes into the any teen-age drama mode (which surprises me) because we both no that her father is trying to come up with a solid reason to keep her plan as it is.

He talks to me later on that night 1:1. I listen remaining neutral until he finally admits that his argument is lacking and calls her in the room to let her know that he will give her proposal a try on the condition that one missed payment makes the agreement null and void.  It was a beautiful father-daughter moment, I tell ya!

Without the unpleasant details, today was spent in court with my daughter Mo.  She was shot with a bb gun, the kind that looks like a handgun, back in August.  The bb landed on the inside gristle of her ear and broke the capillaries on her ear lobe leaving a scar.  The perp was charged today and received 1 year w/ 30 days to serve and the time will be on the shelf for 2 years. I've not worked since June, but have always worked in human services with the last 5 years with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and I don't take any form of violent aggression lightly, physical, verbal and otherwise!  I'm glad it is over. Mo is a very confident young woman and it pissed me off to see how this incident and another one that we pursued when a boy lifted up her skirt at school cuts into her well being.  Mo and her younger brother A. argue like opposing soliders in combat sometimes but they both are very aware and sensitive to how people should be treated.  I don't know how they will fare as adults but as all parents do, I hope they are able to carve a wonderful life and not be jaded along the way.

After coming back from court I had a box sitting against my door from Memphis Pam, a sistah friend.  Here is what it contained-

The frou-frou ink pins are for Mo and rubber bands for A and the premeire episode of Everybody Hates Chris from UPN which A watched already because he had not seen it.  (Pam, did you know the white rubber band glows in the dark? A. thought that was cool)  And the quilting books, well that is a no-brainer who they are for...Curves in Motion and Fabric Collage where on my Amazon wish list but Memphis Pam didn't know that, PLUS Curves In Motion, I believe, is out of print. MP purchased them from one of her altered art pals who was downsizing her studio and because they where such a good deal she got them hoping that I could use them!!!!!  boing-boing (thats me still bouncing around). 

My great grandmother useta say "if you don't change, life will change you".  Much of my personal goals and ambitions have changed mainly due to health restrictions and this recent one of not working, not drawing an income in my own name, and having to accessorize with this damn O2 tank I wrestled (am wrestling) with and have experienced a lot of tears and dark moments over.  What these unexpected surprises and being around people who are supportive of my emerging goals as a quilter do for me is to affirm that my identity, the essence of my identity is still the same even though my circumstances change and (will continue to change because another thing my great grandmother would say is "the only people who don't change are 6 feet under). So my perspective is shifting and I like it.

Now as far as what I've been working on...not as much as I thought I would be...I did pull out the piece I started after I was in the V@gin@ Monologues. I almost scraped it and now I'm glad I didn't.  It is waiting for me to do some background quilting, some beading and then I can finish it up.  I made some more postcards for friends and updated artgoingpostal.blogspot.com with some new ones for sale.  I had hoped to have started and finished the 3rd piece in the Liberation Series for the Form, Not Function Show.  But the deadline is advancing and I still have a slew of appointments between now and the 8th.  I want to get a rhythm going for submitting to 4-6 shows a year as routine with this being one of them.  If anyone has any suggestions on how to accomplish it, I'm open.  I presuming it will be easier, somewhat, once I go through the submission processes enough times for it not to seem so daunting coupled with having a respectable body of work that I feel reflects my intentions...is that right?

hangeth in,