Hello again!
It’s been a while, and by a while, I am referring to the months between my posts If there are readers here, I do apologize for the absence. I am actively working on regaining balance in my life to make time for myself.
Speaking of updates, I have been a mother of three for two months now. The latest addition is fitting in well and bringing a lot of joy with her. She is my biggest baby, and has been surprisingly good-tempered! She loves to talk to us and I’m excited to see more of her personhood come out as she gets older.
Another change that came this September was the beginning of our homeschooling adventure with my oldest daughter. We based the decision on lots of factors, and we decided that by beginning her instruction in a smaller -less crowded- arena, we hope that she can start her education with confidence, less distraction, and (hopefully) a lot of casual fun. We will see how things go, but so far I have been happy to watch her pick up on the things we are covering and I’m optimistic about her learning career.
Now, an update deals with my comic.
Storytime: during this time, a friend of mine passed away. We worked together for a while but the thing we bonded over was our love for stories. We both wanted to write and would talk about our plots as well as sharing books we were enjoying at the time.
I ended up leaving the position to focus both on my other job as well as on my first baby. I’m notoriously bad at keeping in touch with old friends, but we did get to talk every once and a while through messenger. One of the last times we connected she told me she was actively working on a novel. I was so proud of her and would periodically check her Facebook, waiting to get the chance to read her work.
Then, recently, I saw posts on her wall regarding her funeral. I wasn’t even aware she was sick. Things had happened quickly and her passing took everyone by surprise. She was young and it was hard to swallow the idea that she was gone. To be honest, it still is. She was the dedicated daughter to an equally dedicated mother and she was a wonderfully supportive mother to a wonderfully talented son. She had just started moving towards her dreams and it feels like her departure came too soon.
I honestly don’t know if she ever got to publish her book. I don’t know is she even ever finished it. But as I think about her life and passing I began to review my life, my work, and my mortality.
In review, I’ve decided to put “Love Punch” on hold. It certainly isn’t the end of it, I will work on it again someday! It’s just not my favorite story. I choose to work on it first because it seemed like a good stepping stone to what I wanted to write. Who wants to mess up a story they are passionate about? I’m scared that I will mutilate it with stupid and novice mistakes.
However, as I think about my friend and I look at my own hectic life, I am suddenly aware of the price of time.
When playing chess, one must calculate which pieces they are willing to sacrifice in order to win. I desire to have a home filled with family, love, goodwill, and fun. But to do this, my husband and I sacrifice a portion of our lives to raising our girls and grow our family. It’s a move on the board that I believe will be worth losing other pieces over. Pieces like traveling the world or chasing a career.
This isn’t usually a problem until time quit’s and stops playing chess with you. Things you spent time on, thinking they were going to put you in a better position, may end up pushing you just over the line of “too late”. I may only get to make one story in my life, I want it to be the one that I love the most.
So my final update is I’ve decided to focus my time on “Red & Wolf” starting with a name change to “Red & Adalwulf”. It won’t be easy. Honestly the story is like a room in hoarders – full of stuff but no clear path through it. I love the characters and I’m afraid of mutilating them. But the idea of leaving this side of reality before I had a chance to share them with the rest of the world scares me. I hope I can do it justice, and I guess only God knows and time will tell.
Peace be with you!
Miss you Tiffani. I believe and hope I will see you again. ❤️