Just Joy — Clementine and Sage

After all of the orders were packed up and sent on their merry way last week, things got pretty quiet around here. It was sort of like the hush that falls after people have come to stay for a visit - all the chaos and joy and friction of being together is suddenly no more, and their leaving doesn’t create a hole so much as a vacuum. It’s like a momentary suspension from reality, and I find myself hanging weightless for a day or two before my feet settle and I find purchase once more.

Shipping pieces also coincided almost exactly with us receiving our shelter in place orders. I’ll say it again - as an introvert who works from home, this changed my life very little in a practical sense. But, surprisingly, I have felt a little caged knowing there are things I CAN’T do - how silly is that? For example, all week I’ve been craving a specific burger from a restaurant that has opted to close down until restrictions are lifted. I almost never want a burger - but it’s been on my mind constantly because it’s just not available to me in this moment.

I think that’s how my stress has finally decided to manifest itself…in obsessing over small things that seem wholly unrelated to getting sick or the troubles of the world. It’s like my mind sees those big problems as WAY too difficult to process and too far outside my reach - so it settles instead of something minuscule and blows it up instead.

So, to keep myself from going completely crazy, I’ve been doing all sorts of things. I wanted to give myself a little break from jewelry after the last collection (and a delayed shipment of silver and supplies meant I couldn’t have begun work on the summer pieces anyhow), so I’ve been spending my time knitting. And strumming. And doing little bit of hammering. And singing all the while. Basically anything and everything that brings me a twinkle of joy.

And it’s getting me through.

Ps - this song! It’s my take on “Outro With Bees” by Neko Case…something about that second line sure has been resonating!