In school I was the kid who sat in back in the corner. You know, the one who took really good notes as the watched and listened but never said anything. I would read literature and be moved by language or by music. When asked about what I thought, all I could say was, “Uh, it was good. I liked it.”

I was intelligent. I had deep thoughts and sentiments. I sought desperately to connect with my fellow students but was always stymied as to how. I tripped over language, expression and social discourse. I wondered, “Do you feel what I feel? Think what I think? But how do I tell you what that is?”

Then I discovered art. From an early age it became my way of communicating with other people. I can’t tell you how I experience things, but I can show you.

I studied art in college. I majored in illustration at Mass College of Art. I was going to be a freelance illustrator. Then life got in the way of my professional plans. Immediately after graduation I had a traumatic skydiving accident that left me disabled. Then came the children…etc. etc. You know, all the things that lead you from your “best laid plans.”

What changed that? I have to admit it was the recession. I live alone now. My only source of income is social security disability, and that is hard. For me to continue to make art, which is as necessary to me as breathing, I have to learn how to sell it. That is what lead me here to EBSQ.

Having arrived here I have rediscovered all that I had forgotten that I had lost. I used to use art to interact with the world. I had passion, and courage, things to say and people who would listen.

Where does my future lay? Well I hope it lies in generating sales so I can continue to make art. That aside, my goal is once again to have a two-way conversation with the world. First I need to step into the world, which I admit I haven’t done for a very long time. Then I need to listen and observe and reflect what I hear and see.

That is the gift God gave me to use in His service. I need to honor that gift. How or if it will continue will depend on circumstance, I guess.