With Spring Comes New Beginnings

Here comes spring! New beginnings can happen with a change of place, going to college, moving away from home and your family, traveling to a foreign country, starting a new job, simply the rites of passage as you age. These are some situations that can be a new beginning. It can give you the opportunity to be a whole new person you did not know existed.

Change takes courage, thought and dedication to yourself and effects those you share your life with. Have you had an adventure with a beginning that has led you astray or did it empower you? How did it lead you to where you are now? Are you glad you tried?

Marta:

I have a new project coming up real soon. I will be the proud owner/ caretaker of three pregnant Navajo Churro ewes who will have babies. One reason is to produce the wool my daughter needs to make her felted rugs. Two is to make cheese and milk. Three is hopefully to get an agricultural exemption for having livestock that produce for you and help you survive financially. I also have bees and I pray every year that nothing will harm them, always trying to protect them. I appreciate their honey and how hard they work to produce it. Kids come and visit on this beautiful piece of property. I think sheep will be an exciting addition to our animal family.

I have another new beginning making red willow baskets. I gathered with a group of friends. We went and harvested the willow and we met again to make baskets. This is and was a healing experience. To pick each willow individually from the land was like getting blessed with love and appreciation. To weave the willows into a shaped basket is not easy. There have been many hours of learning and relearning the art of weaving willow. I am so proud of my basket so far and I have a ways to go before it is done for my sister’s 60th birthday in April. My friend Andrea says,”baskets are open vessels for all things new. Put your wishes and dreams in them.”

Frances:

I decided to get married. People knew my sweetheart and I was afraid to tell them. I was scared she would say no and I was scared she would say yes. This was a beginning I did start and I was terrified. I told people before I told her. The risk was it would be a horrific relationship and it would lead to disaster. I wanted to be married to her but was scared to do it. It went horribly. “It was a learning experience.”

Crystal:

My new beginning led me to buy my land. It was and is a beginning of a whole new life. Every day feels new when the space you occupy is your own. Every detail is an art project watching the land grow and evolve with your presence. My new projects this year include a hoop house for growing food and flowers along with integrating more native plants to the land.

Michael:

What really hit me and is the big thing now, I need to organize my life work in music. This is time-related. I need to get this done. I need to pay better attention and not get more disorganized… Organize a new web site that has everything on it. Every single church service has been processed on YouTube. I have never even looked at how to bring all that work into the same room. What is your legacy? My legacy project is about to begin. The bell went off and said go!

Miles:

I have had a new beginning. I got married and started a business. Sweet Grass Earthworms is my business title. With my new business, I have freedom of expression and financial independence… More ways to grow in ways I want to instead of getting involved in bureaucratic systems. Being in deep relationship with another is like a mirror to give you more awareness and purpose in life.

Isabel:

One of my new beginnings was entering a whole new world with Richard, my husband of 40 years. I met him at my first job in advertising. With Richard came a whole new world with his family and Judaism. His family was a conservative Jewish family, a serious form of religious practice which involved all the celebrations, a kosher home, separate dishes and two sets of silverware. Going to the temple for all the holidays was an eye-opener. This was the first time in my life I felt like a minority, very few people in the Temple were not Jewish. Over time I felt comfortable. It was like learning a foreign language… Culturally and socially a whole different world I grew to love.