we shouldn't of left you, without a dope beat to step to (step to, step to, step to, step to).
I can never say "It's been a long time" and NOT say the rest of that hahahaha
Welp, the last few weeks have been.. interesting... My health has taken a COMPLETE nose dive and I never made it to that gallery opening I wrote about in my last post. What happened, you ask? Well, I ended up having a seizure at my office, in NYC that evening, so gallery out, complete insanity - IN.
I eventually got home to Long Island safely. No, I did not go to the hospital. Why? Cause people in NYC were coming down with the Coronavirus, and I really didn't want to be stuck in a NYC hospital 2.5 hours away from my husband. But don't worry, I made up for it on Valentines Day, when my body decided to throw me another curveball and I got to go to the hospital with what the paramedics and doctors thought was an acute stroke.
After 24 hours in the ER I was told it was either a TIA Stroke (mini stroke), or a new form of seizure, which manifests itself in giving you ALL the symptoms of a stroke. Ya know, the facial droop, the paralysis of one side of your body, slurred speech, the entire kit and kaboodle.
So what has this all meant? My entire life has been turned upside down.
I haven't been back to my job, and I have been given no timeline on when I will.
I've been a complete pincushion and guinea pig for my doctors for the last 2 weeks. I mean there is NO way all of these tests and radio frequencies can be good for the body. Do they really need THAT much blood for tests? I mean come one! I would like to keep some for myself, ya know!
The lack of energy is the worst part, I think. I open the door to my studio and sit in my chair and there's a want to create, to release the frustration. However, the exhaustion hits, and I just stare at the pieces I want to finish and just keep staring. I stare until I accept the point that it is a bad day and to go rest up some more. So I become a couch potato, and my three dogs do their best to comfort me as we try to find SOMETHING to watch on TV or just sleep.
See this is a very strange place for me to be in. My brain injury occurred 6.5 years ago, and I have fought so incredibly hard to hold onto as many things as possible from my old self. I had no idea that one moment would change my life course so dramatically. Fun Fact: my job was the last constant I had left of my former self. It was the last thing that was mine. My career. My pride and joy. This extreme sense of accomplishment that I had created for myself. I never wanted to let that go, especially due to anything from the accident.
But reality has set in and my body is telling me it is time to slow down, so I am. It has been such an adjustment, but when your body tells you, especially like this, it is time, you listen!
It's been a rough few weeks, and I do have some amazing things to look forward to. I decided not to do the exhibition in April, as it would been too stressful.
However, before all this happened, I submitted my work for an all women exhibition at One Art Space gallery in NYC in March. Last week, during one of my very bad mornings, I received an email saying I was one of the women artists chosen, by my peers, to exhibit, and the email truly made my day!
Luckily everything I want to show for that is completed so I don't have to do anything intense with it. The exhibition is called "She Is...2020". I think the best part is that the artists who are showing get to make a piece for a special wall and pick one work to complete that sentence. It can be a word about themselves, women in general, but one word.
After much thought and speaking to certain women in my life who have made an impact, I found my word... EVOLVING.