I did it!

Did what? Well, carved a stamp. This probably seems like no big deal, but it is for me right now. I haven't carved a stamp in more than two months, since probably a few days before Ike hit. This is astonishing for me. In the 4 1/2 years since I started letterboxing, I've carved hundreds and hundreds of stamps. I haven't gone more than 2 weeks without carving, and then only on vacation when I flew and didn't have my tools with me. Normally, I'd carve almost every day.

But I just can't carve and I can't make LTCs or postals or logbooks or anything if I'm not feeling "right." It's just a weird thing probably analogous to writer's block. Instead of feeling creative, I've just felt blah. Really blah. Blah, blah, blah. Mother of Five and I have been joking about our post-Ike funks, and trying to talk ourselves out of them. But talking hasn't seem to worked.

For me, this was a delayed-reaction funk. Things were fine right after Ike. Everyone had recovered; our house was largely fine. There was a fair amount of damage to the trees, but it was clear we were going to be okay. But, no power, so we went to my sister's house for 10 days. And then, after we returned, being in the house with no power, no cable and no Internet just turned weird.

I thought I'd be able to get back in the swing when we got back home. Nope.
I thought I'd be okay after we got power back. Nope.
I thought I'd be okay after the kids went back to school. Nope.
I thought I'd be okay after our fall routine started. Nope, nope nope (2 kids playing 2 sports each, yikesola).
I thought I'd be okay after we got cable back. Nope.
I thought I'd be okay after Halloween and my oldest son's birthday. Nope.
I thought I'd be okay after I got the Texas tour bus back out and went letterboxing. Nope.
I thought I'd be okay after the election. Well, maybe....

Anyway, I know it got bad when my husband came home Saturday from the Electronics Part Outlet store (best spot in town for robot and mechanical parts) with a lighted magnifying glass thingee. "I thought you would want this," he said, but I think what he was thinking is "what have you done with my wife and can she please come back?" Monday, he came home, "Did you carve a stamp today?" I think he was deflated to hear that the answer was no.

But, somehow, this week, things are better. I don't know if it's restoring my garden or the election being over or the end of that crazy fall sports season, but I feel better. More myself. Physically and emotionally stronger. I'm sleeping better and worrying less. And I've started feeling creative again. There are three projects that I just didn't want to miss--the torn paper II LTC swap, a pink edition of a color swap, and an upcoming postal ring for a friend who recently got married. And, what had been a barren wasteland of a brain devoid of ideas has sprouted thoughts. I dreamt of my torn paper LTCs and I know exactly what I want to do.

The ee cummings quote on the image above is the stamp I carved for the torn paper cards (the pansy is a small part of my idea for the wedding shower postal ring). I still have a lot of work to do on those cards, but now I'm eager to get to it, rather than dreading it.

I'm trying to add things back in after my little letterboxing collapse. There are hundreds of emails awaiting me on AQ, so it's going to take me a while to get to them. If I have missed a deadline on a project, I am so sorry...and if you need to reach me you'd probably do better with this address: dewberrylb (at) gmail (dot) com rather than through AQ.

And finally, if you're one of the people who called me, or emailed me or sent me a card or an LTC, thank you so much. It made me feel warm and loved to be thought of in such a kind way. Letterboxers really are amazing, wonderful, kind people and I'm thrilled to be a part of such a group.