Riding The Wave – Multiple Myeloma

“You see, when weaving a blanket, an Indian woman leaves a flaw in the weaving of that blanket to let the soul out.” – Martha Graham

Some of you know that I was a professional Calligrapher for about 20 years, with ten of those years working for a Master Calligrapher, Ron Baker, in Takoma Park, MD. Ron and his wife Sally, became very dear to me and the godparents of both of my children. I loved working there and it provided me with meaningful and creative work on a daily basis, as well as the opportunity to also raise my children without the usual 9-5+, career track. Oh I had dreams, big ones… I wanted to maybe own a frame shop/studio, sell other’s art, etc. I wanted to do my own thing and have them published into prints and sell them. All the usual stuff. But alas, Dave’s career was zooming and his time became more and more precious to us, his family. Slowly the realization that while we could both work, we couldn’t both have careers and raise a family, at least not the way I wanted my children to experience being a family. So I cut back my hours at Bakers’ Studio, was happy to be working in such a creative job, and filed those dreams in a drawer somewhere and raised our kids and became involved in all that made their lives fun and interesting.

At one point I left Bakers’ Studio to go back to college and study some studio art at the University. I took a summer Art History Class and survived and was all registered for the fall, when my beautiful daughter, Montana, was in crisis. She was having trouble in school. I was peeling her off the ceiling every day when she would come home. It was the beginning weeks of 3rd grade in a new school that we had been moved to in boundary issues. She was having trouble before in the other school too, but I thought I would see if there was anything the new school could offer her. Within about 2 1/2 weeks, I yanked her from school, dropped all my classes and became

a homeschool marm. I’m happy to report that, as I suspected, no KNEW, it was not Montana that had the problem. She is now a National Collegiate Honor Society Member and a Division I athlete (diving), and a AOPII Sorority Sister. It took years for the “baggage” to leave her, but it has, and she is a happy, thriving, young woman and I couldn’t be prouder of her.  She went back to Middle School in 6th grade when my mother needed more of my attention with her Cancer. I remember standing at the window as she left for the bus with her little backpack on and feeling like I did when I left my children in the early days at Pre-school. I was emotional. But she didn’t look back. I was both hurt and proud. A common affliction for parents. Within a couple of days she was rolling her eyes at me and saying “whatever”. ARGH!

A couple of  years before we knew we were to relocate here in California, I learned that one of my co-worker’s mothers was an Award Winning textile artist. I was excited an intrigued to learn this. I had loved weaving when I was in college, many moons ago. Well with that teeny little statement, I was pursued to buy one of her mother’s three looms as she was needing more space for a quilting loom. I was hesitant. Could I really take on a LOOM, learning something new, paying a handsome sum for it? It was daunting. But her mother, who also taught, was willing to teach me all I needed to know. Unlimited. The pot just kept getting sweeter. So I did. Shortly after the loom arrived at my home and a couple of lessons about all the paraphernalia associated with the activity, Dave got the job offer here in California.

Then Dave went into the hospital with his compression fracture and our lives took another turn.

The loom was quickly warped up by my friend’s mother with enough yarn to create two beautiful afghan’s and packed up securely for the movers to bring to California. But wait, I have no idea what I’m doing!

“Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.”  – Stella Adler

The loom is here, still packed for the move and I still have no idea what I’m doing. No contacts to help, some great books I haven’t had time to confront and a studio that still isn’t operational. Bit by bit I’ve been making progress, but it is slow going.

When Dave got sick and we were in Little Rock for treatment, I found a local yarn shop and began to rekindle my knitting/crocheting abilities my grandmother had taught me when I was young. It was wonderful. It was easy, transportable, and creative. I felt enriched. I have spent this time really learning this craft beyond my skills of years ago. Once in a while I think about the loom and getting into a weaving class in Sacramento, but it hasn’t happened yet. My local yarn shop here in Elk Grove is very active. One of the women there is also a weaver. She is offering a class on a small, portable “knitting loom”. So I’m signed up and quite excited that finally, I will embark on my original plan and hopefully I have found someone local who will take pity on me and help me get moving with my floor loom! But I’m very happy to be starting on a single harness, lap loom! I can’t wait.

I’m starting to feel like I’m getting connected here. Its been slow going.

My Loom in Maryland before the move, its a 12 harness, 48" (I think)

Note: For those of you wondering… Montana was never special needs, labeled, medicated or seeing a therapist. It was done with good old fashion basic teaching, nothing fancy. I’m not a certified teacher of any kind. I’m a Mom, unencumbered with the myriad of rules and regulations imposed on dedicated teachers in our school systems. After I got her reading again, I moved to the Calvert School (“school in a box”), supplemented with Saxon Math (which I preferred). I used Amish Readers, because in school they were teaching her to figure out the words by looking at the pictures and I couldn’t break her of this horrible affliction. I had to find “readers” (primers) that had no pictures, which was no easy task in our very overstimulated world. And as a Professional Calligrapher I was AGHAST at the views and lack of teaching proper writing skills, which is so important in minor motor skill development. So I used some nifty workbooks from Portland University called the Italic Handwriting Series (which you can also buy on Amazon). Both elementary schools allowed her to participate in before and after school activities, which she did, (Hands on Science and Spanish). She was active in the local Boys and Girls Club that had all of our sporting activities. She was part of US Diving since she was six, so she had loads of socialization, which seems to be a hold over view from the 60’s, when people tell me they don’t support homeschooling. My view then and now is, I would never choose “classroom socialization” over making sure she could confidently read and learn. However, I was sensitive to it for her own wellbeing, but it wasn’t much of an issue with all of her activities and living in a typical congested suburban neighborhood. I wasn’t homeschooling because I had some high falutin idea about it being better (though sometimes it clearly is). I was doing it because no child of mine was going to go through life unable to read. I could see the writing on the wall so to speak, and was blessed to live in a State where I was “allowed” to take care of it myself, and had a husband who could solely support us financially. Ultimately, as her mother, I viewed it as my responsibility.

Tags: Amish Readers, Bakers, Calligraphy, Calvert School, elk grove, homeschool, Italic Handwriting, knitting, Loom, montana, Saxon Math, yarn shop