Saying YES

I have been a job application/interview whore this past season...well, since June when I lost what I thought would be my life's work.
It has been difficult for me to settle into someone else's place, with someone else's rules and sing someone else's song when what I truly want is to be the boss of me. At 52, you would think that I would have it all figured out by now..and at the root of things..I do have it all figured out. If I didn't need to continue to have bread on the table and heat and dog food and transportation to get that food..I'd not have a problem.
So..who am I to think that I am too good to work for a company?
I guess that when I finally have it figured out, there isn't the work out there that fits into what I have figured out unless I make it myself.
I am good at following along for a paycheck when I have to..it's all about the end justifying the means and all that...and I can do it as long as I need to..I am also good at making the best of situations.

I am also good at making art. I am good at being beside a person who wants to make art.
Simple as that.
Encouraging..check. Creative..check. Thinking outside the box and accepting of whatever floats your boat...check.
When my motherhood road ends, I may want to travel around to make and teach art in the nooks and crannies of our nation..but what about now? I have a house that is free for me to do whatever I please.
The voices in my head saying..ya, but what if someone needs to use your bathroom?
And what about the stove that needs cleaning and the crappy wallpaper and weird smells from an old and leaky roof?
Oh..and Maddy, the boxer doesn't trust all humans..ya.what if she scares students from her catdoor in her designated room while you teach?
And what if the cost keeps people away? even if you have done all you can to keep things reasonable and desirable? What if people that could be your kindred creatives don't think themselves worthy of Art Kamp?
Oh..what about parking? Especially in winter? Will the neighbors be ok with their street  being clogged with cars on Tuesdays and Thursdays?
um..cars? that means that you've built it and they CAME!
Yes!
Say yes to ART KAMP! (yep..camp with a K..you got a problem with that?)
Say yes to kindred spirits gathering with their visual journals and colorful containers of stuff from their own stashes. Say yes to music of choice, to free coffee and to inspiration!!!
INSPIRATION!!!
Haven't I told myself NO for too long?
I have the rest of November to clean the walls and sort through the bookshelves and lose the clutter and GAIN the space for all relevant supplies and tools and welcome campers..I mean KAMPERS to the little living room turned studio that my kids think looks like a rental cabin in the woods.
We will make books and fingerless gloves and paper and clay pots and bracelets and toys and pretty things for our own spaces and to give to our kids and our neighbors. We will tell stories and share recipes and peel ourselves away from facebook and have real face time with real people. We will share brown paint that we never liked with the glitter someone else will never use and the yarn we stored will have a new life as the shawl for someone in life crisis and we will breathe creativity into all that we do.
Ya..that's what I will do.