We spun dreams of romantic fantasies and happy endings as we dived into grown-up life after high school in 1959. We danced through the fire and the rain of life's unexpected lessons and began to forge the women we would become.
After twelve years of marriage, I separated from my incredibly handsome but wandering husband and cried for two years from a broken heart. My two daughters, Sonya and Mary, were nine and seven years old. I became their emotional refuge and sole support. A new life of independence, strength and overwhelming responsibility had begun from this tough choice!
I discovered what I should have known from the beginning. It was my talent for art. Although the necessity of adequate income required a steady job, I occasionally found time to attend art classes at junior colleges. I studied scores of art books and painted in my leisure time. Much of what I learned was self taught. The quality of the art improved year by year but every artist is their worst critic and I sought elusive perfection. It would take time.
My children flourished and became women of stellar character. They educated themselves, and lived lives of successful responsibility. They are my profound joy and remind me that there are no mistakes in life. The gift of family is transcendent.
Small towns of natural beauty enchanted me. I loved the clean air, the unspoiled landscapes, the wildlife and botanicals. Funny, but I realized that I was an environmentalist from the time I was eight years old while watching the urban sprawl of the San Fernando Valley with smog stung eyes. I knew the natural world was disappearing one piece at a time.
I lived in Bishop for seven years. The high desert was monumental with the Sierra Nevada and White Mountains hugging the Owens Valley in eastern California. There was another seven beautiful years spent on the ocean-kissed coast in Cambria at the southern tip of Big Sur. Ten years ago I bought a tiny house in the Trinity mountains located in the far northern part of California. The years in Weaverville have provided me with a closer life with my youngest daughter and her husband and their growing family. I realized, with no time to spare, that missing out on my grandchildren's youth would be deeply regretted if I did not make haste to be present during this short window of time.
While living in Sacramento before moving to Weaverville, I worked part time as a commercial artist. I began to exhibit some of my art in public venues and had my first one-man show in a small gallery on the Sacramento Delta. I was accepted into The Sacramento Illustrator’s Guild and was mentored by some masterful artists. The skills I learned in Sacramento helped me land a job in Weaverville as an ad designer with the Trinity Journal newspaper. I also began writing occasional stories for the paper.
During the past three years, I have been part-time assistant to the Director of the Highland Art Center in Weaverville. The beauty of ever-changing art surrounds me in a job that is too delicious for words. I write a twelve page quarterly newsletter for the Highland and am able to indulge my passion for writing.
I continue to paint and will have my forth gallery show next August within Trinity and Shasta Counties. A sampling of my interests include: flower gardening, altered book making, alternative healing practices, traveling, journaling, fantasy and Asian art, goddess mythology, and new-age music. I confess to also being a political junkie with a fondness for social justice.
There is a gift in each of us. Sometimes it was so obvious and sometimes it was a mystery waiting to be discovered. That was always our purpose even while we searched for answers. We recall those who have touched us with their magic and all the lessons finally make sense. We grow in spiritual consciousness by connecting with compassion to all living beings which ultimately brings us face to face with the providence of the Divine.
I look forward to seeing my high school sisters and experiencing each amazing woman that survived and thrived through fifty years. Wow, what a journey it has been!
POSTED BY BARBARA SON EDWARDS
