Nothing recharges my creativity and general sense of wellbeing like forest bathing. Trekking into the woods grounds me, reminding me to breathe and take notice. It mutes the outside world for a moment, allowing me to reset when life gets too noisy.

…The guilt, anxiety, and fear I’d carried for so long stared back at me, translated into gritty black strokes, stark against the white of the paper like nothing I’d ever painted before.

Oliver’s surgery was successful and he recovered much more quickly than expected. My boy grew stronger over the next several months, but I didn’t. Jason suggested that I sign up for an art class to begin recovering the pieces of myself that I’d lost.

Leaving the house led to being assaulted by well-meaning questions about Oliver’s health that I couldn’t answer. Not only was it too painful to discuss casually, I didn’t have the answers. Every cardiology appointment made me feel like I was underwater and couldn’t come up for air again until we were back in the car.

He was here. Warm in my arms, smelling of milk and hope, but I was still holding my breath… Within the hour and without explanation, he was rushed to the NICU.

During my first trimester, I devoured every book on pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding I could get my hands on. While research usually provides me with a sense of control, the more I learned about potential complications, devastating mortality statistics, and endless decisions to make, the more quickly I spiraled.

An unexpected adventure paved the way for the Eastward Idols Collection, which blends the beauty of nature with the echoes of creatives heroes and heroines whom I’ve long admired.

Our family recently moved from a small townhouse in Madison to our new house in Sun Prairie. Leaving our home of five years – where we brought Oliver home from after he was born, where he took his first steps, where we became a family – has been bittersweet, but we have been ready for a change for a long time. What better time than when we are spending so much time at home?