A Fork in the Road

When I don't know what to do, I usually figure it's best to do nothing. I've been in that stuck spot for a few weeks now, just sort of standing around, scratching my head, and going, What??? Tell me what to do already! I've made a little jewelry, and sold a few pieces. I'm focusing that part of my time on the show I'll do in November. I've had a bunch of email recently, from nice people telling me they miss my beads, and wish I'd go back to making them. Well... that's probably not going to happen. I've been fooled by this ploy before. Oh Kim, oh Kim, we love those beads. We need them. We want them. We will buy them... HA, says me. I've spent the last 3 years doing what those well meaning folks have asked, only to find that they disappear when it comes time to pull out their wallets. Let me put it this way, how long would you go to work if you didn't get paid? Hmmm?

Thanks to "the economy", or global warming, or Mercury in retrograde, or whatever you want to blame Things on, beads and jewelry that were once considered necessary, or at least justifiable, comforts are now "luxuries".  I don't believe it, but since most people do, my work is not really valued at this time in world history. I mean look at tribal people's all over the planet. Sometimes they don't have food or water, but they always have jewelry, because personal embellishments are considered important for a variety of cultural and spiritual reasons. But that doesn't matter a hoot here, and all the begging in the world isn't going to get me back to the torch. To be honest, I think all this struggle is really a Message From God that's finally getting through to me, because I'm finally willing to listen.

Something I've known for a long time is that I'm not just and beadmaker or jewelry maker. I have lots of talents that have been stuffed under the bed for years because my total focus has been on making stuff, making stuff, making stuff... the main goal being to make a living. The guys on the street corners with their "will work for food" signs crack me up. We all work for food. Sheesh. Most of us don't have the luxury of flitting through our days, doing things we love, while somebody else drags the food in. So when the work no longer supplies the food, then the work needs to change.

That's where I'm at. The work needs to change, the blog needs to change, and interestingly, food has become not only the motivating factor, but the inspiration and theme behind the changes. Haha! Heehee! Who knew? It appears that what I'm "supposed" to be spending my time on now is the very thing I've been working for all along. Food.

Almost a year into the vegan adventure, and several months past the RV adventure, I'm finally finding a new focus. I want to write a book. For real. A cookbook of sorts. Or more accurately, a cooking book. Day after day, I put on my apron and make huge messes in the kitchen, all the while taking notes and and stuffing bites of food into any mouth that gets within range. I'm making good stuff. I'm taking good notes. I'm getting encouragement. And I want to keep going. Nobody's paying me to do this. Yet. But Rick's handyman business is doing well, and bless his heart, he's also taken a part time job at the hotel he used to work for. He wants me to do this because it means he gets fed really, really well, and because he believes in me. He always has. More than anybody else I've ever known.

My new mascot is the bumblebee. Scientifically, aerodynamically speaking, the bumblebee can't fly. But still, it does. You can't do that, means nothing to a bumblebee. It does what it does, ignoring the rules. There's a lesson there for all of us. Whatever it is, we can too. What I'm doing now seems impossible, or at least improbable, but I'm going to keep flapping my little wings anyway. Who knows, I just might get off the ground.

So this blog... it was about Taos, back in the Greetings From Taos days. Then I moved it here, thinking the RV thing would last... forever. Now I've pondered starting a new blog, and asking you all to move with me again, but I really don't think that's necessary. I think "taking the long way home" still applies, because this entire Life Journey is really about making our way along as creatively as possible, knowing there's no real goal, no start, no finish, no home other than the great cosmic soup we all swim in. Might as well take the long way every day.

So, I hope to hold your interest, and I plan to stick around after all, sharing this new adventure, and a few recipes here and there. We'll have fun. We always do. When there's a fork in the road, pick it up and eat something with it.