Friday, September 09, 2005

Set to Turn 40 with a Grin!

The first week of school is over and we are heading off for yet another weekend away, but this time it is up to a lovely spot by the ocean and our church family camp. Instead of basking in the Atlanta heat and sunshine, I’ll be cuddling up to a campfire and watching the stars come out overhead. Instead of painting myself green for She-Hulk, I’ll be spraying on the bug spray... but my family will be with me in one of the most stress-free spots on Earth that I know.

DragonCon was absolutely fantastic. I may put a page up on the website in the next few weeks to show the full transformation to She-Hulk, including the great help from Teresa. I had such a great time aiming for this dream... and winning Best Comic Book Character was just the icing on the cake!

Now I get set to teach in both Toronto and Ottawa next month, then calm descends until Nashville. One of the most important pieces of advice I learned from the science-fiction/fantasy artists there was that when you are not working on an assignment, you work on your portfolio pieces, so I am going to try to schedule in a few hours of drawing or painting the way I do for stitching. I painted some more canvases this afternoon and it had been just long enough since the last batch that I found it fun instead of boring.

I entered my last decade full of doubt at my abilities at being a parent, full of angst at going freelance, full of sadness at how out of shape I’d gotten, full of fear about the gallbladder surgery I had to undergo 6 days after turning 30. No cake and no real celebration that time. I certainly made up for it this year!

So, I guess I am completely ready to enter my next decade with a saucy grin. Here’s to the fact that you never get too old to chase dreams!!