Yesterday was Easter--my youngest daughters favorite holiday--bar none. I love it too--the sweet, hopeful gift of life, that is paralleled by Spring. But this year I was also feeling a deep sadness, caused by personal weaknesses that blurred the clarity of progression and just this moment I remembered an experience that holds a lesson I need to not forget. It's appropriate because it's a lesson of atonement and renewal.
Two months ago, I was in the midst of designing a wedding invitation for my son and daughter in law. Trying to prepare for a wedding takes more mental effort than I ever imagined and I was feeling overwhelmed, but I felt in my element for this particular task. I was using a program I knew well and had the years of experience to feel confident that I would be able to produce a composition that would please my children. It was time consuming, (mostly because I'm a perfectionist) but enjoyable until I tried to submit the finished product to the professional print studio who rejected it due to "low resolution". The images were crystal clear on my computer, but screens don't always correlate with what printers produce so I checked to make sure I was working with the original photography files, instead of a copy--which I was--so the only explanation that seemed feasible was that the quality was being lost somewhere in the transfer. I spent days on the phone with the printers and searching for technical answers on the Internet, but I couldn't seem to improve the quality and there was a looming deadline. With no answers seemingly available, the print shop, who was out of town, offered to re-design the announcement, following my layout and have my daughter in law bring in the original photo files to work from, but they were going to charge $35 and hour. It was a simple design and they were sure they could accomplish the job in an hour, but after all I had invested in it, I couldn't bear to give it up, so I asked for help from someone more technically savvy than me...my daughter, away at school. She didn't have a ready answer, but she likes a challenge and soon produced a solution, which consisted of one, single keystroke--a checkmark in a box. In an instant I had full resolution and success.
As a full time homemaker, I don't earn a monetary wage, so my time can't be equated with money, but giving up and handing the project over to a professional would have saved me real, though temporary frustration, However, I wouldn't have learned the small, but crucial step by which to gain detailed focus for the next creative process.
This week I have been faced with another, more important hurdle and I have wrestled with giving up and turning the art over to the printers for re-design, but the stakes are higher this time and the remembrance that endurance is crucial and asking help of someone more knowledgeable is always key to discovering the one click that will bring resolution has given me a measure of renewed determination, so I am sticking it out, asking for help and waiting for answers.
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| Easter morning treats and wheatgrass. Martha would be proud. =) |
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| Family Spiritual Easter Basket: "17 Miracles"; "Grace" cello music by Steven Sharp Nelson; "Jesus Know I'm a Christian" and "Earth Shakers..." fireside talks by John Bytheway; scripture markers |
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| Easter Breakfast |
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| All dressed up for Spring in our wedding weekend wear. |
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| Loaves and Fishes Easter Picnic: Salmon, Flatbread, Olives, Fresh Cheese, Dried & Fresh Fruit, Grape Juice |
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| Enjoying the gorgeous Easter weather, the beauty of Spring and waiting anxiously for our Sunday walk. |
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| Hand painting art |
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