m wood pen

dream…dream, dream, dream…

hey kids, this is a public service announcement for any and all creative dreamers out there.  if you build it they will come, if you want it make it happen, if you hope, work, think, aim and, yes, dream, you can find some pretty big thrills.

i know i should be able to factually prove my point, but save hours digging through the scribbled pages of my 40+ years worth of diaries, just take my word for it.  and admittedly, i tend to get ridiculously embarrassed reading my heart-bursting blatherings about crushes, love, and anything to do with romantic entanglements, so for this post, just trust me: i’ve somehow managed, in my wacky off-course life, to capture dream after dream.

granted, there have been plenty of “no, go away, that’s ugly, that’s not out style, leave the building, some poor tree died in order for you to submit that dumb idea on?, don’t ever pitch that to me again” sort of rejections, (more than i can count), but those melt away just like each winters snow. as tom hanks character advises in “you’ve got mail”, remember: it’s not personal, it’s business.

so, yes, brave souls who create your own paths, it’s the good stuff that clings, barnacle-like, to the happy memories of the creative life.

without ever relying on a compass, map or guidebook, intuitively my yearnings to create the life i have must have called into action some homing pigeon, magnetic pull that drew me into the plethora of adventures, discoveries and quests of a pretty cool existence.

granted, as dreamers do, i am certain that i envisioned the path a bit differently, as well as the cast of characters! but despite a thelma-and-louise sort of trajectory, where i seemingly lost my footing and veered off course, i landed just where i had hoped to.

what does all of this mean?  well, the seemingly impossible longings to create something wonderful.  to see my love of architecture and design and a fine tipped pen whirl together in a magic hat, resulting in the splash of m wood illustrations decorating the walls of crate&barrel, my own personal ‘oz’, for a few fabulous years.

so kids: listen to your heart.  do the things that matter to you.  whatever that may be.  look what it got me, so far?

a wildly incredible batch of amazing children.  an outrageously cool self-designed house.  a career that relies on pen, wit and good coffee.  a curious brain that is being fed constantly and enthusiastically.  the excitement and challenge of juggling college bills and dashing to the post office box in hopes of grabbing a check (hey, freelance work does come with it’s nail-biting moments).

and best of all?  walking into my own oz and seeing my sketches framed, tagged and ready to venture out into the world.