I'm taking a moment today to be vulnerable with you. I am working on a new art collection that deals with grief and growth and loss and beauty, and it only felt right to be more transparent about my own story around those things. [Trigger warning: grief, widowhood, cancer]⠀⠀⠀

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Once upon a time, there was a young couple that was deeply, madly in love. They got married even though everyone said they were too young. They made each other laugh, they encouraged each other toward their dreams, and the two planned a whole beautiful life together. But then one day, one of them became very sick.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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And after some time in and out of chemo, back and forth from the hospital to home, moments of complete despair and also soaring, undescribably joy, only one of them was left. Eighteen months after they said, "I do."⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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This is my story. Well, not just mine...it's me and Nick's. I don't talk about it much here, as that was ten years and what seems like a whole lifetime ago, but as I'm elbow-deep in this new art collection that is all about growing from grief, about beauty from loss, it's a story that I'll be talking about more. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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The thing about art isn't it isn't created in a vacuum. Gardens don't grow until the seeds have been buried deep in the dirt and endured rainstorms. And the same is true for me and you, my friend. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

So, if you've experienced the utter heartache from grief and loss, you are not alone! Please remember that you're part of this growing garden. I'm sending out light to you today and growing right alongside you.

I wanted to extend an invitation to you, to follow along with this important body of work. Because we all have our own stories about loss, and there's something about knowing we aren't alone in grief that makes it a little less crushing.⠀⠀