I saw a quote a while back and then I went a found a meme on Pinterest.
I have gone back to that quote several times over the past few months to remind me.
When I left home at 18 years old and moved to California with $300 in my pocket thinking I was rich I had no idea what I was going to do other than find a job, establish residency and go to college to study…something having to do with science. I wanted to be a researcher.
It was harder than I thought it would be and $300 was way less money than I thought it was. I never did end up going to school but I got jobs that built on each other. I first worked in an engineering office where they designed intraocular lenses. Then I worked in a place where they made optical devices for machines and high tech windows for jets and highly polished mirrors for medical equipment. I worked my way up there until I was working on the quality control area of the company.
When I left California I continued to work in QC but at a video tape manufacturing company called High Speed Video. Yes, I watched movies for a living. After that I went to work at a pharmaceutical company and I started as an assistant in the research labs and worked my way up there until I was designing and performing experiments and even writing the research papers about those experiments. Without a degree I wasn’t named but still it was pretty fun and interesting.
After that I went to work for my parents who owned a bed and breakfast in Linfield, PA called Shearer Elegance. We also catered private parties and weddings and special events. I was the customer service person, booking agent, wedding consultant, advertising manager and tour guide. We would host lunches and dinners and tours all through November and December when my mom would put up and decorate at least 35 Christmas trees throughout the house. It was nuts!
At the same time as I was working there I was also making wedding gowns and other dresses and doing alterations for people who needed sewing done.
Then we moved to Michigan and I learned to quilt and smock and knit and then came spinning and owning the spinning loft and writing two books and teaching spinning.
And now there are some days when I question this small pivot. This change of focus. I haven’t given up spinning. I still love wool. But right now sewing is bringing me joy. And the feeling of accomplishment and the new questions I have that I want to answer are swirling around me.
But then I wonder if this is right or good or smart. And then I go back and look at that quote. I want to get even better with a sewing machine and a needle and thread than I ever was, and I can surely do it. Even at 54 years old.
