It seems I am always gauging my life by what painting projects and Santa Editions I have before me to finish. There is always one there that I need to start or need to finish and my days start to be numbered by their progress or lack thereof. Checking them off the list becomes a form of therapy for me. Having this numbers and time game to play is a true blessing although sometimes it does not feel that way. Having work before me that I have designed and created for myself...and that someone else desires is the one of the true gifts of my life. I started this little business 15 years ago with no idea that I would be doing it 15 years later. I started it because I loved to paint and I loved to make gifts for others by my own hand. I did.... and so I continue to do today with the help of my partner Shawnette and my great friends and fellow artists Mary Albert and Lindy Brammer. We all work within the framework that I described above. What do we need to accomplish next that will allow us to move on to this or that...the things that we aspire to do and accomplish above and beyond what we do everyday.
As we all get older it starts to feel a little more important that we clear the calendar more than occasionally to do the things on our bucket list. Here at CBCC we paint and we make Santas and we load the trailer and we unload the trailer and we plan and we learn and we start all over again... but the rest of our lives seem to call to us a little louder. Our joints ache a little more and our eyes need stronger correction to see what we need to see, but our hearts still yearn for what they have always yearned for.
My business came to fruition because it is one of the things my heart yearned for. My intention breathed life into a small but satisfying small business that has grown every year for 15 years, but it now has taken on a life of its own. It has goals that must be met and timelines that must be honored and ideas that must be born. Chesapeake Bay Christmas Co is its own entity now. It has become a full time job... and there are only a few of us that can do it! I now find myself yearning for other things and I must figure out how to do all that I want to do in my life. But I do know that I am blessed to have this dilemma and the knowledge that I also have the power to figure it out. Everyday I will make my choices and forge ahead . I will continue to play the numbers and timeline game. I will bring my life experiences into my business and bring all that I have learned through having my business into my personal life. I will carve out time to do new things! I will strive for balance...Zen....Karma all those illusive terms we use to name what we strive for...a happy heart.
Tomorrow I will stop my painting and Santa making and bookkeeping and phone calling for a short time while I turn my heart and attention to a joyous occasion in my and my families life. A wedding. A wedding of my oldest son and the lovely young lady that he loves. I will watch them start their lives and I will pray that they will make some of their dreams come true while they maneuver their way through everyday life... that they will live a prosperous everyday life while following their dreams. That the two melt together into one.
Thanks for reading,
Lynn
www.chesapeakebaychristmas.com
www.facebook.com/chesapeakebaychristmas
www.twitter.com/chesbachristmas
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