Day 16,980: Next Journal for the Journey

Today I am so grateful ...

To birth the cover of my next sketchbook journal.  This opportunity only comes around a couple of times per year.  Always exciting.  A bit unnerving.  I do my fair share of circle turning before I bravely dig in.

My cover collages on past journals have been pretty safey-safe so far.  I hungered for this one to have some dimension.  So I began by covering it with a piece of Fred's comforter that I had saved when I relunctantly discarded the rest of it last week due to its sad state of disrepair.  It had previously been the comforter on Dan's and my bed when we moved into this house almost 10 years ago to the day.  There's richness of personal history in the well-worn fibers and patterns of things that comfort and give us warmth, but I don't need to keep them whole forever to satisfy my nostalgia.  They mean even more to me when a portion can be integrated into something new.
 
In a dream last night, while the new journal still slept in its plastic wrapper, I saw the finished cover with the tree.  My marching orders were to find the stash of embroidery thread, otherwise long ago forgotten, from my daughter's childhood friendship bracelet days.  Afraid to slow down, much less stop, the finished cover manifested through a beautiful mess in a surprisingly short time.  It's like nothing I've ever made before.

Now I'm in shellac mode.  Adding protection and shine.  As I gently brush it on, I realize that I don't entirely understand what the whole of it means.  I do sense that this tree is capable of accommodating the winds of change while remaining firmly grounded.  It appears to be bending and flowing quite playfully, in fact.  Hopefully these characteristics apply to me as well as I fill this journal's pages with art, words and other treasures gathered on this juncture's journeys, inward and outward, near and far.