I Survived Today

2026/02/16

This past week has been a bit rough. And this week hasn't started off well either. But hey, I woke up today! And that means I have everything I need. I'm not going to deny the sadness, though. My positive outlook doesn't mean I don't acknowledge that bad things are happening and that my heart is heavy.

I've lost 3 cousins this month. One cousin, I only recently learned of. I didn't know her at all. And I only knew about her because she was being treated for cancer at the same time as Mom. I don't know if Mom even knew her cousin had cancer until they were being treated together...LOL But she ended up losing her battle as this month began. The next cousin to lose his life was someone I did know. But I didn't know him well. He was a cousin by marriage and I only ever saw him at family reunions back in the day. But his wife is in my family and I mourn with her as I know this was a great loss for her. She lost a son recently too; another cousin of mine. That was either last year or the year before. And then I lost yet another cousin just last week. This third time has hit my immediate, and immediate-extended family really hard. She wasn't sick or anything. It was one of those sudden freak things. One minute here and the next, gone. At least she hadn't been suffering anything. So that's good. She had just been with her sister that morning. When her husband came home for lunch, he found her. It sounds like it was a pulmonary embolism or brain aneurysm. She was so young at 51. She was a daughter, mother, wife, cousin, and friend. There is a huge hole in this world now. This is one of those loses that reminded me to tell people that I love them. She had just messaged her parents that she loved them just before she passed away. People know I love them. But the words are important to me. What if they are my last?

My creative side is still going strong. I've been working on so much art lately...LOL I went to EPCOT again this past Saturday. I did a sketch of Mrs. Pots with the festival Animation Academy and I did 3 more urban sketches. I love how Mrs. Pots came out! With the urban sketches, what I do is quite crude. But part of the reason is the tool I'm using. I've been using my Palma 2 Pro. It is okayish. If I just want to do a quick sketch that I can use as reference later, it's great. But for urban sketching on the spot, it isn't so great. So, I'm considering using my dedicated art tablet or getting another art tablet to take with me for things like that. My current art tablet is actually a bit on the large side for me to comfortably use it in the mean streets of Disney World...LOL But it would technically work. I'm just eyeing a slightly smaller one at the moment for situations like that. The current one would be fine at remote places with a table. I've enjoyed doing even the crude artwork, though. I've been posting it because I'm glad those sketches exist. Tonight, I also finished "Holy Spirit" from last week's Bible study lesson. I didn't finish it last week because I spent much of my art time working on the Rex's Valentine card...hehehe For "Holy Spirit", I went with a stained glass look. I love how it turned out. I've also already thought about what my next 2 pieces are going to be for the Bible study collection. I'm very excited for how well my art passion is going.

I'm also itching to get back to some fiction writing. I have ideas cooking in my mind right now. I'll get to all of that eventually. I'm still journaling daily and love the writing process. In the journal case, it's just writing out thoughts and whatnot. But that desire to write easily translates to doing fiction and non-fiction story writing. I have no idea when I'll get around to publishing anything. But I'm going to write things as I am able. Just like the art, these things want to exist...metaphorically speaking, of course. Time is part of my problem. But so is energy. Creativity actually takes more out of me than work does. Work hasn't been stressful at all. Creativity isn't stressful. But it uses parts of my brain that aren't used enough to be productive all the time. At least, that's how I think it works...LOL I don't really know why I wear out.

This week's study is about the church. I've been needing a study on that topic. I'm glad it comes off the heals of the Holy Spirit lesson. This week is going to be a difficult one because of that topic. But it's a good kind of difficult. I feel some growth in my near future...hehehe

If I had a t-shirt that read, "I survived today", I'd be wearing it to bed tonight to celebrate that fact...LOL That's how today feels.