As the Sunset on 2025
Palisade Sunset 2025
Given the timing of Christmas and when my Friday morning blog posts hit, I find myself at a loss on what to write… With the sun finally setting on what was an incredibly difficult year, I’m both reflective and melancholy. I don’t think I ever want to go through another year like this one, yet… I’ve learned so much and have grown so much as a person. I’ve leaned heavily into my religious faith and in so doing have come to realize the depth of inner strength that I have AND that with every hardship and obstacle there has been an opportunity to learn something new. I am forever grateful for these life lessons.
This year has been a time for new discoveries… when Andy went down in March, I discovered my village and just how wonderful it is to be a member of a small-town community. Growing up in a small town, this is something I overlooked in my youth. I think it is very true that with age comes wisdom… well at least for some of us.
While I struggled to keep my head above water and hold everything together as the matriarch of the family, my art took a back seat, and the farm started to drift. When I was finally able to return to them, I realized just how lost I was as an artist and that the vision for Palisade Posh had gone off course. Reflection, lead me to the conclusion that here were two new opportunities…
Who am I as an artist and what is it that I want to create and how? Where did the passion and joy get to and at what point did I start to lose sight of what I wanted to create and instead create what I thought was required? The vision of Palisade Posh was running a similar course in that we started to get so wrapped up in selling what we were trying to grow that we forgot why we were growing it?
The rapidity of life can do that to you… one gets so overwhelmed with and caught up in the whirlwind that you don’t even realize you are lost… until your world comes to a grinding halt. My faith has taught me or is teaching me to embrace this stillness and in so doing, I’m able to hear more of what God, or if you are not a believer… the universe has to say. Slowing down, breathing and listening is helping me find my way back.
The energy is making its way back into my art and with it comes the joy. I’ve regained a clearer focus on what Palisade Posh is and can be and with that comes a more cohesive sense of purpose that I can share with even more people. As Andy’s road to recovery continues, I’m realizing just how much I took for granted and am savoring both the large and even more so the simple things in life. Stepping back and slowing down to appreciate the environment and the people that fill my life is not a bad thing.
So, as the sun sets on the year 2025, although I will not miss it, I do appreciate all the life lessons, the people and the experiences that have come my way. I am a stronger and hopefully more thoughtful person than I was when I started 2025 and for that I am grateful.
