I had two strong passions as a child. Well, three, if you count horses. I was always found with either a sketchbook and pencils in my hands or a book. In hindsight, I think the horse phase was probably attributed to repeated readings of Misty of Chincoteague, as I am small-framed and not made to sit comfortably on a horse.

I followed neither of these passions in college, electing instead to study cultural anthropology, a subject that made my parents question any possible return in their investment. I think it was a desire to understand the curious ways of humans rather than any deep-seated desire to study indigenous tribes in the Amazon. Besides being small-framed, I am quite fond of a daily bath.

It is said, to find happiness in life, return to what gave you pleasure as a child. After a decade in advertising (in client services, not, I may add, in any creative capacity), I heeded that advice and married my love of art with my recently acquired business skills and opened a fine art consultant company.

I owned Corporate Art Resources for twenty-three years, creating art collections for numerous corporations and institutions. It was a wonderful career — assisting artists, creating beautiful spaces, captaining my own ship. As close to the creative side of life possible without actually creating anything.

It wasn’t until my mother passed away that the words and stories and random pieces of dialogue coursing through my brain found an outlet. It was as if her death gave me permission to acknowledge a side of me hidden for decades. I began with an essay about the pain of losing her and have not stopped writing. All of those human observations, moments exquisite and painful, have turned into my personal truth.

I hope you find something here that resonates with yours.