I was having a rough day.  Winter was weighing on me and I was beyond sleep-deprived.  But I had to get out of the house, so I headed over to the one block long main drag of my neighbourhood.  The thrift store and veggie market were visited.  In the stationary store I was floored to see a display of Sabrina Ward Harrison’s new products with Papaya.  I’d drooled over them online, but never expected to stuble across them in person.  Gorgeous art journals and two different sizes of wall canvases.  At the exact moment that this caught my eye, the Weepies came on the store stereo.  It was one of those moments that just seemed rather perfect. 

I knew I’d treat myself to one of the art journals.  They were so beautiful, two of them drawing me most because of their luscious Sabrina-style art.  Their messages “make believe” and “choose your own adventure” called to the kid in me but I kept on returning to another journal much less fancy carrying a message “its all secretly perfect”.  I’m all about choosing my own adventure and make believe, but those other four words spoke to me in a way I really need right here and now.  So it came home with me. 

The pages are gorgeous thick and ready to make art on, which is what this has become.  I have a separate book for writing (a gorgeous new one handmade by a talented friend just came in the mail, but that’s a post of its own right).

A short while after that moment in the store, I came across a twitter post about a Sabrina Ward Harrison retreat in Seattle.  I hadn’t signed up for any other art retreats for this year, partially because I want to stay nearer to home and lil’ ladybug but also because traveling across the country to art retreats can get pricey and I need to work to build up my “adventure fund”. 

This retreat had it all though.  Its near to home and is taught by one of my favourite artists.  Within five minutes of reading about it I had registered and quickly sent off an email to my art-retreat co-adventurer Valerie who was also jumped right into going to this retreat.  Its gotten even better since, as I found out a friend I met at Squam, Elizabeth, will be there too.

Trusting that its all secretly perfect is kind of hard to do.  I’ve seen proof though, so I’m ready to believe.  I’ve seen one of the hardest times in my life (going through a depression) transform itself into the most incredible gift of discovering a creative medium I love.  I’ve come to live a life that I really truly do love.   I just need to trust that those pieces that haven’t fallen into place (and sometimes feel like they never will) will happen.  I need to trust that space and the passage of time are not stagnancy, but are laying groundwork.  I need to look a little deeper at what already are shiny bits of a true life. 

I can't help but think that weepies/swh moment and then the discovery of the retreat are some of those already perfect moments, waiting to be noticed.