Bring Hope To My Heart, Relief to My Mind

The cat is out of the bag. The deed has been done. The decision has been made.

In mid-September, I will depart from my little life here in Birmingham to go enroll in an 8-week concentrated letterpress program in Asheville, North Carolina at the Penland School of Crafts!

I don't much believe in coincidences. I don't think much of fate.

I do believe this has been working it's way out for a long while now.

You see, when I worked back at skirt!, I maintained a weekly blog. There was really no rhyme or reason to what I wrote about. When I got jazzed up about something, I shared it. That's precisely why I was enthused to be able to mention Penland here, after following a rabbit trail of my own research about this artists colony in the woods.

It was just an unreality then, as I sat behind the confines of my desk.

Alas!

When I lost my job just three months later, I was infused with the courage to chase my letterpress interests. Those first few days were adrenaline-filled. I was all over the place, dreaming dreams I'd been too comfortable to conceptualize for a long time.

That's when I remembered Penland.

So, I applied and have been accepted to the two month work-study program. I'll be learning from Bryan Baker, a seasoned artisan. I'll be living there on campus, toiling in the kitchen for a large part of my tuition, and soaking up the autumn beauty.

This decision has been troubling me for days.

While I'm not super rooted here, I do have a lease. I do have a (minimum-wage) paying job that I adore. I do have friends, bills, responsibilities here.

But, this opportunity knocked.

And so, after negotiating with my abundantly generous roommates, after talking with my bend-over-backwards-kind employer, I'm set to go. And, I'll be gone til November. I'll be gone til November.

Sure, I'm a little uneasy about escaping what has been several months of momentum-building time here. I'd be lying to say I didn't think about if/how I'll fit back into things upon my return. But, this opportunity knocked. Roared rather. And seized by a wave of bravery, I'm taking it. I'm chasing it. I'm not looking back (not even to wave goodbye to my diminishing bank account).

For those near and far, come pay me a visit. I hear Asheville is breathtaking in the fall.

Keep an eye on this blog as I'll be reporting live from Penland.

(Thank you to all of the without-words-wonderful people who have been SO instrumental in encouraging me towards this decision. Bette said it all, you truly are the wind beneath my wings).

(This song was the inspiration for my blog title.)