I kept passing the sign, driving up Fox street through Jonesborough.
"The Moon is Always Female"* it said. There was a ceramic moon hanging next to the words. The sign hid whatever was behind it. So I kept wondering what it was, and driving past and thinking "what a cool sign".
Yesterday some friends came to town. They drove up from the NC coast to visit the area as they are thinking about moving here. These friends are the very first real life unschoolers I met, way down in Pensacola before the military moved them and mountains called us away from the beach.
Yesterday, I decided to take these friends into Jonesborough for some window shopping and a lollipop or two. The sign is still there...
"The Moon is Always Female". I decide to peek behind the sign finally, as everyone else swirled up the street. "Just a second you guys, I'll be right back" I lied.
I peeked behind the sign and there was....
ART.
Beautiful art.
Expressive art.
Messy art.
Women's art.
So Im going to grab a brochure and maybe come back later, and the brochure says something about
"Women on Air". "OH, thats Susan Lachman's show" says I, as Susan herself comes bursting around the corner to give me a hug.:)
Let me back up a bit though. I was driving up the road one day, many months ago when I flip on NPR (WETS up here in the hills) and hear an interview that grabbed my attention. After the interview was over, they play a song by the artist. The song made me cry it was so beautiful. They announced the artist would be playing at Acoustic Coffeehouse three days later.
And so I came to know the lovely
Amy Steinberg with her passion for music and life. I met the equally lovely Susan Lachman that night, the very woman who had interviewed Amy and introduced me to her music.
I had to share about this
new artist I had discovered of course...so I naturally posted about her at some of my unschooling lists. Emails started to come in from other states, thanking me for telling them about Amy and telling me of concerts they had attended. Every time Amy came back to Johnson City, she had met someone in another place that had found her through my posts! It was crazy and wonderful.
She made a connection with my dear friend
Diana, who lost her daughter Hannah last year. In fact, she just played up in SD for
Dianas birthday, an event I'm sure brought about more sweet connections.
So it was interesting to me, that I would run into Susan yet again, at just the right time. Not surprising, just interesting.:) As it turns out, she booked me to do a talk about chocolate on June 18th as part of the celebration of women's art. It looks like Amy might be able to make it up for a concert too. I am exactly where I need to be. Surrounded by brilliant and beautiful people who make life fun.
Serendipitous or fate? I'll let you decide....but it is amazing to me, how much the world opens up to us when we're trusting our own hearts and living the life of our choosing.
*The name of the art show is based on a
poem by Marge Piercy with the same title.
