Full Circle at Hawthorn Hollow

There are fairs I enjoy. There are fairs where I sell well. And then there's A Walk in the Woods Art Fair at Hawthorn Hollow.

Hawthorn holds a special place in my heart for reason that have very little to do with how much jewelry I sell there.

Sometime around 2005 or 2006, my husband, my daughter and I were out driving around one Saturday. We'd only lived in the area for a short time, and if I remember correctly, we were probably exploring.

We saw signs for an art fair...and cars were piling in. On impulse...we followed them.

I don't remember much about that day anymore. I remember walking through the woods, I remember that it was a beautiful day. I'm not even sure we bought anything.

But for whatever reason...I never forgot it.

At the time, I wasn't yet doing art fairs. I wasn't even remotely close to imagining myself sitting under a tent selling jewelry I'd made. It would be at least another 5 years before I'd do my first show.

A lot of life happened in those years...and then life changed in ways I never could have imagined.

But...that charming art fair in the woods stayed in the back of my mind. Three years ago, I finally applied to A Walk in the Woods at Hawthorn Hollow...and I got in!

I don't know that I fully appreciated what that meant until I was actually there, setting up my own tent in the same place we'd wandered into all those years ago with my husband and daughter.

Holy fuck...I'd come back.

Only this time...I was one of the artists.

There are moments in life when you realize you've made a circle without knowing you were making one...and this was one of mine.

And now, for 3 years, Hawthorn has been one of my favorite Saturdays of the year.

I'll put up with the bugs...and bastard mosquitos, which destroyed my foot arches, Achilles heels and toes. Because there's just something about that place...the trees, the people, the other artists. The customers wandering along the wooded paths...the whole damn vibe.

It makes me happy.

And that matters more than I can really explain.

September is a month with complicated feelings. There are dates that don't just disappear just because the life you once expected to be living unexpectedly....changed.

They stay on the calendar...and sometimes they hurt.

Today, September 19th, would have been my 28th wedding anniversary.

But...I've learned that grief and joy are not opposites. They can co-exist...sometimes at the exact same time.

That's what Hawthorn has become for me. It holds a memory of the 3 of us wandering into an art fair on a random Saturday, with absolutely NO idea what the future would hold.

But it's also part of my life now.

It's where people stop at my booth and smile at my Tiny Dancer earrings. Where I talk to people about jewelry...spend the day with my new love...spend the day surrounded by trees, creativity, and bugs. And where I come home exhausted, covered in mosquito bites...and happy.

For the past 3 Septembers, this place that holds an old memory has given me new ones. And I think that's why I love it so much.

I don't have to choose between remembering the life I had and loving the life I have today.

There's room for both.

Sometimes you follow a line of cars into the woods on a random Saturday. And twenty-some years later...you realize you've found your way back.