1 - My Camio -or- Jen's Creative ADHD Monster is Out!

My creative monster is officially out of the closet. It wasn't my fault, well not really. In a manner of speaking, the blame rests entirely on the fact that I've had cancer. You see I was an art major in high school and pencil sketches were "my thing". Of course such things were only for fun and not a responsible choice for a career (starving artists and all that). So when I finally became that responsible grownup, I closed the door on my creative self, and although I've done some crafting over the years I had it completely under control.

I'm sure you noticed the tense there; was, as in past, as in not anymore. I work in a school system. Generally this allows some time during the summer to learn something new to make which was then used for gifts (my justification, if you will). Over the years, I've learned to crochet, make candles, do calligraphy, make jewelry, scrapbook, and make candy, among other things. Everything was going well, right up until last year that is.

I had reconstructive surgery last summer. Being fairly young at diagnosis (40) and active, I opted for reconstructive microsurgery using straight tissue (so I could keep my muscles where they belonged, thank you very much). The only downside to this decision was a much longer recovery time, which meant I would definitely need something to do...

I had seen some craft pages on the Internet dedicated to the art of teabag folding a.k.a. kaleidoscope origami and was intrigued. This seemed an excellent way to pass the time during my recovery and would mesh well with my other crafts as gifts so I decided to give it a try. The closest I can come to a coherent explanation (and specific details remain unclear to this day) would be to offer this analogy; it was like cracking open the door to the closet holding my creative monster - just a little. The results were most unexpected; the door blew completely off the hinges, squashed me flat, and now my creative monster is on the loose and running amok all over everywhere.

I am still me (I think), but now possessed by creative benders that often strike without warning and trigger a mad scientist mode where I run around muttering to myself incessantly. I'm pretty sure I'm scaring my family. I don't understand what happened, not really (it was kind of sudden). It seems that I am now almost constantly overwhelmed with the need to create things, all OVER the place. I've even started sketching again, and I was scared - really scared to try. It had been so long, what if I lost it? What if I just couldn't do it anymore? But cancer has made me realize that life can be much shorter than we expect, so don't waste any of it - ever.

So here I am, my creative monster pinging off the walls and the results of my benders all but piled to the ceiling. My current thought? If I create anything else we're going to have to MOVE :o)