The Waiting Place

I’ve been a little frustrated the last few weeks, because I’ve arrived at The Waiting Place.  As the greatest sage of the 20th Century (Dr. Seuss, of course!) put it, I am in

The Waiting Place…
…for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

With the upcoming move, it’s hard for me to focus on anything, especially Big Projects – and especially Phoenix Rising, which, after waiting for the move, will then have to wait for me to clear fifteen yards of 60/2 silk warp before I can do something more exciting, like weaving my first samples of handwoven organza.  I am going to do a little work on it this weekend (draping 1/4 of the skirt so I can estimate yardage for the completed skirt), but other than that, I’m stuck.  And because I expect to start packing in earnest as soon as escrow closes (two weeks from today), I really don’t want to start anything, either.

In short, I am in the Waiting Place, and if there’s one thing I don’t do gracefully, it’s waiting.  As Dr. Seuss continues,

NO!
That’s not for you!

Somehow you’ll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You’ll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you’ll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!

Which I’m sure will happen eventually, but for now, I’m kind of stuck.

Meanwhile, life moves on apace, and I’ve been asked by a guild in Texas to lead a three-day workshop about the creative process sometime next year.  Ordinarily I would just say no, especially since I don’t have any materials prepared and teaching is a money-losing proposition compared to my day job, but this is (of course) a subject near and dear to my heart, so I’ve agreed to do it.  Of course, this means developing materials for the workshop, and doing a couple of “dry runs” with local guilds – so if you are interested in a two or three-day workshop about the creative process, in the San Francisco Bay Area, sometime in late summer or early fall, email me (my email’s on the About Me page) and let me know.  It should be an interesting workshop – the idea is to take a fairly basic, vanilla project, start developing ideas for variations, and work through the process of developing an original design from whatever variation catches your fancy – making samples, identifying and addressing risks, figuring out how to get help with the missing pieces, etc.  I’ll probably run through it twice, once with a smaller group and once with a larger one, as I figure out what works and what doesn’t.  The local versions will likely be fairly low-cost, since I’m still developing the materials and process.

It probably sounds like I am suspiciously busy for someone who is “just sitting around waiting” – and perhaps I am, much of the time – but I have been having mornings and evenings where I simply don’t know what to do with myself; nothing seems interesting enough to tackle, except those things that I can’t start working on because we’re about to move.  I find this extremely stressful, primarily because I am eminently aware that life is short, and it just seems a waste not to be doing something!

Mike, on the other hand, suggests that maybe I should just relax.  He may have a point. 😉  But I’ll be incredibly happy once the move happens, and I can exit The Waiting Place.  I can’t wait to set up in the new house!