“I think it’s important that you know that I will never change. But I’ll never stay the same either.” – Taylor Swift

I love that quote. It sums up a lot, and 2018 especially. I put off this post due to self-imposed pressure to Say Something of Meaning, especially since I started off my 2018 recap saying I was pretty down on the whole idea of the new year and what I was doing in it, which is not the general impression I’d like to leave. It’s not the general impression I have of 2018, either.

2018 was quite remarkable in a million ways. In personal victories, friendships deepened, songs written, shows played, places traveled. It was rich, all the while I battled with where I was going and what I was doing with it.

Therein…lies the lesson? I have learned this lesson a lot but I always need a reminder…if you ask me my 5 year plan I’ll have a small freakout and stutter something generic at you. It’s not that I do not have a solid direction…I really think I do. It’s a gut feeling and I have followed it since I was a kid. It got me to Austin. It has landed me some of my closest friends and allies and creative partners.

It has also brought me results that, if asked for specifics 5 years ago, I never would have laid out for you, because the real answer is that what has happened is better than what my simultaneously freaked out and very practical mind would come up with if asked. I learn that lesson over and over and 2018 was no exception: reality is cooler than my best goal guesstimate. I am so fortunate.

With that in mind, I’ll keep paddling this boat blindfolded down the river (WHO SAW BIRD BOX??), but to pick a destination right now? I can’t, and I say that with excitement.

I DO know…I’m gonna make a record, I’m gonna travel some more, I’m gonna keep my chosen tribe close. Those three things and I cannot lose.

Thanks for hanging in with me on this very retrospective blog series. I’ll see you in 2019.

PS: Not to leave you hanging with no photographic evidence…the last 2 months were filled with wonderful shows with great friends. Here’s to more of that, too.

TEDxBartonSpringsWomen’s conference with Shawnee Kilgore, Noelle Hampton, and Wendy Colonna.

with Bonnie Whitmore at the Continental Gallery (photo by Heather Miller!)

Patsy’s with Nancy Scott, Susan Colton, and Heather Miller (photo by Spring Lee!)

With Shawnee Kilgore at Skull Mechanix (photo by Dave Johnson!)