Quote of the Week

I've long been a fan of greeting card (and now poster, calendar, you-name-it) artist Renee Locks. Take one look and you'll see why - beautiful paintings of trees and flowers with inspirational quotes in stunning calligraphy - shocking that I would be so attracted to her work, I know.

I first bought a greeting card of hers in college, which I had planned to frame, but it was many years before I finally did so. The painting was a single delicate flower and the quote was "..And the time came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

I'm ashamed to admit that at the time I only knew of Anais Nin from a Jewel song, but still I found the quote stunning, personal and relevant. A late bloomer in several ways, I was, desperately at times, trying to hold on so tightly to what I knew. Fear played a central role in everything I did, or, should I say, didn't do. Too afraid to go too far away for college, I gave up free room and board out of state and stuck close to home to follow several friends to a nearby university. Afraid to be on my own, I traded the typical college experience for what was safe, for what kept me tight in a bud, because I was afraid to grow and blossom into someone that didn't coincide with the path I was on - college, marriage, job, children.

But Anais Nin was right... there came a time when it was too painful to remain as I was and even though I didn't have the answers, I listened to my heart and to my gut (which is right 99.9% of the time) and I started on a new path of self discovery. It pains me to think of where I would be now if I hadn't taken the risk to blossom.