Heading Home

 

Well, it is Thanksgiving weekend and I have much to be thankful for.  

The work done the past few days required about two months of preparation on my part and many hours on theirs.  All the post production is now in their hands with me providing any assistance they need.  

I think we did some good solid work in spite of my concerns, and frankly?  I was not functioning at my ‘best’.   But I gave it all that I could, given my current state of health.  

My friends tell me that I’m far too hard on myself, and I can’t argue that I’m not.   But my goal is to present the information with clarity.  The team assured me that I did that, so I have to trust their observation.  The rest is out of my hands until the classes launch, then I can be there to support the students.  

We talked about being able to present information people can access remotely, on their own schedule, which also means greater accessibility for people who live in rural areas, or have other issues that prevent travel.

But mostly I just want people to be able to learn.   To understand that there are many ways to accomplish what needs to have happen.  And not to injure themselves.  Privately we talked about some looms being noisy, and wearing hearing protection.   Yes, I have weaving related hearing loss.  I got hearing aids just as COVID arrived and since I have been isolating I’m still not really used to them.   Once COVID eases, I will go out more and hopefully find them less annoying when I hear my own voice. 

The past couple of years I have had to learn how to live with shrinking horizons, accept that I cannot push myself to exhaustion because I no longer have the resilience to bounce back.  My activities need to be more measured.  

We will leave in a few minutes and head North.  The weather isn’t great and there is a chance of snow at higher elevations.  

Once home I have some things to complete, then hopefully slip back into a less intense period of time, rest, take it easy.  By the time the classes launch I will be able to provide support to the students.  It will be an extension of what I have done previously on my own, and with zoom and other on line services, I’m looking forward to meeting a new group of enthusiastic weavers. 

So I am heading home, tired, anticipating some rewarding interactions in the new year. 

With gratitude to the team here, excited to be part of the journey with some eager students and most especially hopeful that we can move beyond COVID to a more positive 2022.

Thank you to all who have encouraged and supported me on my journey.  I look forward to whatever comes next.