I started #artingthemorning in March. I was needing some motivation to keep posting on social media( I get burnt out there really quick) and I wanted to do something that would help me improve my art and maybe inspire others.

I am now on Day 39. I have missed a few days here and there and that is why I am not on Day 45.

Yesterday was our oldest son’s birthday. He turned 21!

It was also the first birthday he was away in college to celebrate. And the day he turned the age Chris and I was when Thomas entered the world and we became first-time parents.

I spent yesterday painting holes in some game boards, applying lacquer to others, and finishing up a particularly difficult ( and glittery) custom game board. I went for a walk in the morning to exercise, called Thomas and left a birthday message, helped my kids with their homeschool math, made homemade pancakes, cleaned a little, and made dinner.

Basically, it was go, go, go yesterday.

Then it was time for bed. I was exhausted but felt like I hadn’t accomplished anything! So I thought again of all I did that day. Instead, I realized that my baby is now 21. That my second baby is leaving for the summer and how quickly it is already April when yesterday was January and in just a few short years my other 4 kiddos will be out doing their own thing.

My day hadn’t been spent accomplishing anything. It had been spent squashing down that realization. ‘Cause, it was a crappy thing to think about even though at the same time it’s also extremely amazing to watch each of these kids grow into young adults and take on the world.

All of that to say, today’s #artinthemorning, though not pretty, sums up how I felt last night. Although I really, really didn’t want to even attempt art this morning, I made myself do something. And that is the one step I needed to take to get me out of my funk.

~Chris & Carrie