BLOGWILD BEGINNINGS

Last summer's garden is nourishing us this winter. Under the deep drifts of snow, my garlic is gathering the earth's power and my asparagus is sleeping. I am dreaming of working at a job that uses my gifts and gives me some enthusiastic appreciation. It's been a lifetime of seeking such a position. I have had many jobs...the list is long. Camp counselor, special ed support tech, massage therapist, electric meter reader, child case manager, childrens librarian, poet, writing coach and columnist...that doesn't cover all the jobs I've done for free. Being a mother was the most demanding and yet the most rewarding, and it included a litany of of sub-jobs; cook, taxi driver, stylist, housekeeper, tutor, art therapist, sports enthusiast, medicine maker, healer...and then of course the wife, friend and lover. Since we moved to Maine and began to build our lifestyle with a season and land based foundation, I have made attempts to create a vision of life that would also contribute financially to our family. The diving economy hit the western mountain area of Maine pretty hard and I must say...some days it feels like I'm bashing my head against a wall. When Stephen went through a quadruple bypass in May, I found myself curtailing most social and superficial activities as they all paled to the primary need to be with my beloved as he climbed out from under his physical changes. I poured myself into his care and to caring for my garden. Since that time, I've discovered that all the jobs of my life have been like seeds...planted and tended in my garden, they fascinate and nourish for a time but eventually, I pull them out by the roots and turn them back to the compost pile in hopes that they add nutrients to my next efforts. Today I sit in front of this page feeling a green tendril bursting through my heart and I ponder what it would be like to grow my own employment. When we first moved to Maine, I developed a vision of our property and called it Bogwild. Today...because writing is the thing in my life that has remained friendly and trustworthy and filled with imagination leading me along a path of wonder, I am beginning a new venture...thus the title Blogwild. It is an effort to reconnect with all that is natural, wild and free and growing out of me. I plan to use it as a space for musing over lessons learned as I follow the path that I create. Care to join me?