Reflections on 2018,
Gratitude in 2019

January 2018 was pretty normal with reviewing 2017 and beginning to plan for some business growth, but then I landed in the hospital for a week with a severe case of pancreatitis. It is amazing how the body works, and consequently how long it takes to recover from something that requires you to not eat or drink anything in order to ‘fix’ it. While I am physically recovered, the mental stigma and lost time is still following me around as I slowly catch up on delayed projects. Mentally, it is hard for me to reconcile the seriousness of what happened, not knowing why it happened, and feeling guilty for the massive delays that snowballed out of control (it feels like my life has been out of control) and not being able to complete my commissions as scheduled.

Highlights

• Finished my largest private commission – 8 window panels –for a beautiful home in Minneapolis, in addition to 5 other commissions in Minnesota and Wisconsin
• Attended my 5^th consecutive Stained Glass Association of America Conference, this time in Los Angeles, and then visited my daughter in San Francisco
• Exhibited my work at 6 Fine Arts and Crafts Shows as well as 3 Holiday Shows and 4 galleries throughout the year
• Painted an 800+ SF mural (my first mural since Jr. High!) on the Eastview Recreation Center through a public art community engagement grant
• Won an award for Snow Melt (Spring Thaw) 

 Low-lights (and the silver linings)

• Pancreatitis definitely wins the award of the year for no fun, but it also taught me that I need to take better care of myself and to be patient with the long journey to better health
• Being tired all the time, recovering from pancreatitis, caused a lot of delays in completing my commissions, but it also allowed me lots of gratitude for my very patient and understanding clients
• The big beautiful blue kiln died – twice – fixed it once and then let it expire, but it spurred me to evaluate my studio space and create some new goals (just a foreshadowing teaser about that for now...)

Looking Ahead with Gratitude and Attitude

The holidays (and January) are always a time when I tend to regroup, get paperwork completed, and make plans for the coming year. With everything that happened in 2018, I am truly looking forward to making plans, setting goals, and working with a lot fewer surprises and less chaos in 2019.
Most importantly, this new year will be filled with gratitude – starting with this heartfelt THANK YOU to all of my clients past, present, and future!