Hi Everyone,
I hope your week has gone well.
Mine has been, uh, difficult…no, hurtful.
I write this blog every week for several reasons. It’s a way for me to look back and track my progress with my artwork, it’s a journal of sorts about my life in particular and it is a place to speak to experiences we all have as human beings.
This week, this quote came to mind.
“No good deed goes unpunished.”
by Clare Luce Boothe
Why does it seem that when life is at its most stressful people take the opportunity to be the most hurtful? You try to do the right thing in life and take on monumental responsibilities while trying to carry on semi-normal life and what you find coming at you is not support, but arrows of criticism, gossip and actions taken behind your back that in no way help the situation?
I was raised to be a nice person. In spite of all the good I was told it would do me, I cannot truthfully say that it has. Often while I have been trying to take into consideration other people’s feelings those very people have not returned the courtesy. My trust is betrayed by those I thought I could trust. It has happened time and time again. I should know better by now.
Danny and I are in a row boat in an ocean of complication that has a history and backstory the depth of the Mariana Trench, yet people who have only a cupful of knowledge about the situation keep gossiping and throwing stones and making waves. It does not take our focus off our true priority which is the well being of another human being, but it makes the journey cold and miserable.
I am truly and deeply thankful for real friends and family that regularly call, text or hug us and tell us we are doing a good job and they are there for us. Those are the rays of sunshine that mean so much. We are navigating difficult waters. Decisions we make that people might not understand very well may be for a long term reason, not the short term.
I find some peace in simple things right now. Picking beans in the cool morning, watching Danny training a horse, knitting a pair of socks and laughing at someone’s silly joke over dinner as we forge a new family. We are tough people. We have survived worse. All of us.
May you find yourself surrounded by those who shine light, not cast shadows.
Photo credit
Tim Marshall
Pencils, Paint & Paper 