It’s been seven months and ten days since I started my corporate-career identity moratorium by leaping wildly from the safety of the known and flinging myself into the foggy ravine of a developing dream. My freefall was only supposed to last for three months and then I planned to hit the road on a year-long sabbatical, 50-state art adventure with Millicent the Sprinter van! A doctor friend and I laughed that due to unforeseen economic and supply chain hurdles, my safety net has a few holes, and thus my free fall continues and continues…
The slamming of figurative doors and the opening of new ones is whirring at a record pace and with every delay of my van trip, new opportunities unfolded: participating in four more art exhibitions (Sacramento, Paris, Miami, and Napoli, Italy); mentoring students at a national competition; officiating a wedding; painting a commission; and more importantly, caring for my brother, my sister, my parents, a new friend with Pericarditis, and my college roommate in times of great need. Those joyous and heartbreaking moments would never have happened had I been ‘on the road’ with Millicent the van. My sister wisely said,
“Your Millicent journey has already begun.
How important is the physical object of Millicent the van anyway?”
I’ve been questioning, “When is my next chapter going to begin? When is my new identity going to take shape?” And I was, at first, incredibly impatient with each delay. It dawned on me while driving two hours in the pouring rain to get a COVID test, that the new chapter is NOW. This is life! It is like the beginning lines of A Tale of Two Cities. “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” It seems plausible many of us can identify. …A time of stopping; a time of starting. A time of bedrest; a time of travel. A time of pain; a time of health. A time of losing dear friends; a time of gaining new friends. A time of creating; a time of caring. A time of despair; a time of hope.
The good and the bad are all mixed together in a soup called life.
Too often, we try to label it ‘good’ or ‘bad.’
Dr. Srikumar Rao says, “Good thing, bad thing, who knows?” Hearing this from Dr. Rao has forced me to rethink how to define what I have called my “health crisis,” the pericarditis I have dealt with for three years. A new artist friend I met while in Miami said, “Why don’t you start calling it your ‘healing journey’.” She’s right, for without that healing journey I wouldn’t be on this new divergent path of art, teaching, and caring. So, is my ‘healing journey’ a ‘bad thing’ as we would be tempted to label it? No, I am quite convinced that I wouldn’t have it any other way.
So, lessons from my health journey have helped me gradually let go of my preconceived ideas about what this “Millicent journey” (that was to start months ago) is to look like and let unimagined cool things happen. So, what are they? I have…
· Paintings currently exhibiting in Napoli, Italy, and will exhibit in New York City in March
· My sixth semester of teaching at Georgia State University and I have recently recorded 15 professional videos for the class. I hope to share one with you soon!
· Hollywood literally knocked on my front door and now an award-winning production designer is renting my house as they shoot a major feature film on my street.
So, what about Millicent?...
I’ve been told Millicent the van will be ready in the next few weeks. Good thing, bad thing, who knows? But I do know that I treasure the past seven months and look forward to the adventures of the next seven.
How has your world changed in unexpected ways over the past seven months? Was it a good thing, bad thing, or who knows? I would love to hear from you!
Tally-ho!
Christiane Palpant at Red Dot Miami 2021 with Agora Gallery Owner, Ariel Kahana, and Director, Sabrina Gilbertson.