Jumping In

Part of me wants to make some grand entrance, but most of me is just shouting "Jump in with both feet, and see what happens!" Writing is my art. It is how I make sense of the world, where I experience healing, and the place I find courage. I've grown out of Joy Jottings, though. Over the last few months I've tried to change its looks, to fit myself back into that space, but it just never felt exactly like a place I wanted to return to. I've done a lot of growing during the months of 2011 and feel like I need a fresh start, a creative space that fits the me I am now and who I am becoming.

The title "Simply to Be" is a combination of three things: the phrase "just be" (a wish for myself that I've written over and over again in my journals since high school), a Madeleine L'Engle quote "there is time in which to be, simply to be, that time in which God quietly tells us who we are and who he wants us to be", and a little joke between my sister and me. Since becoming a mama, I've often told her I wished for some time to just stare at the wall, time to let my thoughts wander, to check in with myself and hear what's going on inside me. Amidst the busyness of bringing another human being into the world, my voice got lost somewhere along the way.

And so here I am, simply to be. Ready to share my words and pictures with you again. I'm making no promises about what you will find here when you visit. I'm giving myself the gift of no rules. It feels good to be back. Here's to 2012!