I got some great news today which immediately caused me to get my art journal out and create this spread.

It’s not an overly joyful spread though – mine never are. Getting good news about my son’s health made me think about how blessed and cursed it can feel to be a parent. It’s not just rainbows and butterflies – not at all. When you have something so precious you can get very anxious about it getting damaged and not being able to mend it.

Full disclosure, for those of you who are interested: Both my son’s physical therapists told ud yesterday that they don’t need to see him anymore. They told us he’s developing just fine and that there is pretty much zero chance of him having cerebral palsy.

He suffered brain damage during birth and they have been monitoring his development closely to see if he’s gonna need extra help with his motor skills. We had a big scare around 2-3 weeks ago where they told us they observed some alarming movements, but we went in for an even more thorough examination and they sent a video of him to a doctor in Switzerland for a second opinion. And now he’s in the clear.

I can’t even begin to tell you how crazy this makes a parent. One minute you’re picturing a lifetime of hardship and challenges. The next they tell you it’s fine. He’s fine.

I think people cope with extreme heartbreak because it’s all we can do. I don’t even think a mind is able to process it at the pace it’s happening. And thank God.

I like that mental picture of a valley, giving us an opportunity to use our wings. I’m not the type of person who thinks bad things always happens for a reason. In fact I think life isn’t fair in a lot of cases. But I am amazed at what humans can go through and sometimes come out stronger.

For all that we go through, most of us are still here. If you’re reading this, then you survived all that life ever threw at you. That’s a big deal.

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The words are from the song ‘Speak Out Now’ by the Danish singer Oh Land. I recommend her lovely song ‘White Nights‘ too.

I keep wanting to create using the prompts from Get Messy Art Journal Challenge but at the moment my head and heart is just overflowing with my own tangled emotions that I have to get out on paper first. So bear with me while I work through some of this.

Thank you so much for being here.

xo Nina

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