Today I awoke with a smile!
Oriel Q, ‘On the Stairs’, Queens Hall, Narbeth – Opening Night!
Last Saturday, as we were trying to meet another deadline, this time at the Elysium Gallery in Swansea, and after a crazy couple of days collecting pictures for my exhibition in between my trying to sort out the mess of printing issues with my exhibition material and the also cover of my book,to collect a picture I’d had in another Gallery, my husband said to me, “if you’d have known what you know now about all the hard work, and everything involved with doing this degree, would you still have done it?
The honest answer is that I don’t know. It would be easy to say, now I’m nearing the end, “Oh Yes, of course!”, and that would be because I have now found a passion for Art and Photography that I could never believe possible. If anyone had said to me 4 years ago, that I would be waking up with a smile after a successful Gallery Exhibition Opening, I would have called them crazy. And yet, it has only been possible for two reasons.
One is the simple fact that when you are suddenly and unexpectedly faced with a really tough challenge in life (and though I have been at breaking point a couple of times, I am not comparing it with the real challenges of ‘tough life’ that are thrown at people through illness and hardship – mine is self inflicted), BUT in all cases, when you are faced with a tough challenge, somehow you find an inner strength to carry on and get through. The real criteria for this is – AS LONG AS WE CAN SEE THE END – and I could.
The second reason it has been possible is because of the support I have had – John has been amazing, not only lugging all my bags of gear though the trickiest of undergrowth and onto the most precarious of locations but also, he has learnt how to cook, often eating most of the meal alone and watch the television with ‘Billy No-mates’ whilst my head is totally absorbed in thought and definitely elsewhere.
So there it is. I would do it again, I would do the whole degree Part-time and make it last even longer. It has been amazing. This year and next are my 3rd year but, now part-time, I can really enjoy the rest of my degree without the pressure. And then? Maybe a little more. Who knows?
But in the meantime thanks to John – you have been an absolute STAR*.
