Collaboration....

Is it Tuesday already?  Good intentions.  I have lots of them….

Last week was rainy.  Every day, it seems, was dark and cold and wet.  Bad weather for working in the garden, great weather for being creative….  I have always had a creative bent, making what I could out of what I had.  It served me well when I was a young mommy with children who grew out of their clothes as fast as I could sew them.

Since retiring last year, I have found new creative outlets.   My daughter and I have been scrapbooking together since last fall.  We both enjoy being the keeper of our family’s memories and doing it in an artful form…

With the rain last week, and derailed plans of working in the garden, I turned to creative endeavors.  And I had an epiphany: I enjoy creating scrapbooks as much as I enjoy filling them with memories.  That explains why the shelves in my crafts’ room are overflowing with things I have made.  And it causes me some sense of guilt.  What’s the use of creating something that will just sit on a shelf?

So, when my daughter came to visit last Thursday, I offered a suggestion: since she is so busy with her full time job and her family, I could make some things for her to sell in her online shop.  I was tentative about making the suggestion as I didn’t want to step on her toes….

No need for trepidation as she was thrilled with the idea.  She was lamenting the fact that she has so little time to make things to sell, and my contributions would be greatly appreciated.  And no, I am not advertising here.  I will not share the what or the where of our collaboration as that’s not relevant.

What was meant to be a quick get-together last Thursday, for my daughter and me, turned into a day of planning.  We talked and laughed and thought of all kinds of things we would like to do and make.  It was fun.  It IS fun, to collaborate with my daughter.

The days since that first “business meeting” have been quite busy.  I have made half a dozen products for her to put in her shop.  I have ideas for another dozen or so things.  And, come this Christmas season, when my daughter designs things to sell, I will be busy in my workshop, producing them for her.

Last evening, I read the blog she wrote yesterday.  If I had any doubts that she was as enthusiastic as I am about what we are doing, her blog erased them.  It was delightful to read her rememberances of the things I created when she was a child.  And I was reassured by her kind and thoughtful words about our joint efforts….

While it’s not all that important in the overall scheme of things, this collaboration is something to celebrate, to me.  We have had our times apart, my daughter and me, while we fought our own battles and didn’t impose on each other.  We have never been estranged, or anywhere near estranged, but we have not been as actively involved in each other’s lives as we are now.  We are mother and daughter, dear friends, and now, collaborators…

In a creative way, that is….

Cali