KCP Thank you and update

Hey everyone,

I know many people have had tragic events this year. I am thankful that I have not experienced tragedy this year. But I am one of those people who have found it hard!

I started January 2020 with big dreams and High Hopes. I purchased a house that needed a lot of TLC with the intention of making it a secondary studio. It’s a place I’d dreamed about for a very long time; a place where Potters could go anytime and spend as long as they wanted on their projects. Not having to rush or be confined to a three hour schedule. 

Just as I started fixing the place up Covid hit. No problem! The studio is going to take months to get ready! I can fix the house while we wait out the pandemic. I was working 8 hour days to get the studio ready, all while April, May and June ticked by. Covid scared the students who would otherwise have loved a studio opportunity. When July came around I realised that I needed to make a decision. Covid wasn’t going away and with months of paying mortgage and utilities I could not financially hold everything in place until it passed.

Especially with no teaching income coming in.

It was such a hard decision to make. 

By the end of July, it was clear that I was going to have to make the house into a place where somebody would want to live.  With the help of Cathy and Chris and many, many others, I was able to get the house ready. I started 10+ hour days between August to December, we got the job done.

I’ve had some time to reflect on what happened. This was a dream that Covid threw off course. So the sting of failure for the studio still sits in my throat. However,

I am buoyed by the kindness of neighbours Ryan and Tanya and the joy that somebody has a bright newly renovated Home.

I am filled with gratitude for the students that were with me and were ready to support me! You hold a special place in my heart. I am sorry if I got you excited just to let you down.

Thanks to my parents for covering the cost of the kitchen and the bathroom I did not have to borrow more money. 

To mend this hurt I have found listening to some podcasts Oprah's master class January 31, 2019 and mind your business 432 How to bounce back after a failed launch. started to read Radical Acceptance.

More recently, I am also thankful for the Bee Well project to direct my energies to. Which allows us to continue connecting online even though things can still feel uncertain. 

​I think the best thing will be getting back to work and hanging out with my students again but who knows what plans I can come up with over the next 4 weeks. Pat says I should start with cleaning my studio lol - so maybe I’ll start there.