The Cohesion

When I sketched the design for this pendant 4 years ago, I never thought it would be a year before I could attempt to make it. The diagnosis of Parkinson's for my mom threw my life into turmoil! I became her caregiver. At the same time one of our dogs was dying of liver failure, the other dog was diagnosed with cancer of the toe and Kamala was becoming a chronic egg layer, the layers of stress seemed unbearable! My world was turned upside down! Fiona crossed the rainbow bridge. Feebe had her toe amputated. Kamala has leveled off in her hormones but remains complicated as do the many Drs appointments and medications for my mom, there is no upside to this disease. In time however a new normal settled into place. It wasn't easy by any means, but somehow we got through it. Eventually I was able to go back to my sketch and begin making pro-types of this pendant. After 8 tries,I decided to jump in and just use argentium silver, because at this point I had nothing to lose. Now life is in a turmoil again. Everything has been turned upside down. A new normal is yet to be found but it is making small footholds. The very things that once gave me stress, now give me ease, joy and…… normality. So now, mornings are for my much needed time in the studio, then I bring my mom over. She dozes while I prep dinner. Kamala forages for her food and then sits contently on her 'afternoon' perch. Finally Mom and I do her exercises together and Kamala comes in to watch and be part of her 'flock'. Flock calling follows and mom giggles! Peace inside the turmoil. The very things that gave me undue stress, now bring me a calming state. There is such joy in these simple actions of just being together. Here we are safe and warm and we laugh. It is like cohesion! Cohesion is the surface tension that attracts like molecules together and keeps a drop of water together. We are home, keeping a joyful surface tension by simply being together. In time, this too shall pass. Life continues. We can not change what is happening but we can wisely choose our reaction to it. We can choose to shatter. Or we can choose Cohesion.