CRASH! BANG! BOOM! (AKA: Badass Down!)

Screeeeeech.....CRASH!

I had no choice but to hit the squeaky-white, brand-new BMW at 40 mph as it jumped out in front of me. My car, totaled. Me, broken. {end scene}

After whiplash, two sprained thumbs and a subsequent ambulance ride, hospital visit, a painful chiropractor adjustment, 10 orthopedics doctors visits, two MRIs, 16 weeks of PT, and eight weeks of getting my shit together to file a claim to their insurance company and dealing with attorneys...after all that, I was out of work for EIGHT months.

Eight frickin' months of not being able to pick up my tools, I wasted away in my mind. I stopped doing anything related to my art. I even stopped posting on this here blog! Of course, I kept my mind from completely leaving me by just accomplishing small tasks of everyday hum-drum stuff that needs to be done, but I couldn't force myself to create anything else except than what my own hands were making before the accident.

I went from a super-badass to a tired, cranky miserable bitch! I kept solvent, and I forced a few small artworks; a few hand-made paper pieces, a watercolor of my cat, (and a lot of confections coming out of my kitchen), and went from making $20-30,000 pieces out of metal to making crafts for under $100. I felt I pretty much lost myself.

I lost part of me for a while, but what kept me from disappearing completely was HOPE and FAITH. I had to be optimistic and see myself working again and had to hold on hard to faith that was fleeting, faith that the universe will soon again provide. Now it is eight months later and after it's all said and done, I am walking away with a meager sum to cover my losses, (thank you, Warren Buffet for being so cheap!) But I also am finally getting myself back.

I am getting back a stronger, sharper, more powerful badass. Recovery from a fall is what makes a badass to begin with. It makes us more beautiful with our scars, more resolved as we recover losses, and more determined to kick even more ass in our field of dreams.

I hereby return to the creative world with fervor and grace.