Once Upon a Time... con't.

The young girl didn't know what she wanted to do as a "career". All she knew was she wanted to be a wife and a mother. Her younger years had been spent loving and nurturing animals and it was natural for her to want to continue that in a more personal way with her own family. Many artists speak of "painting or drawing since they can remember". This girl did draw, but the only things she can remember drawing were horses. And more horses. It was about the horses, not the drawing. She did not know she had a calling to do art. She only knew she loved animals and adored horses and dogs. She went off to college for a year- still not knowing what she would do for a major- taking her horse with her ofcourse. At the end of that year she was no wiser in where her path would take her and so she got a job, sold her horse- there just wasn't time for Cassie (the horse) any longer. She now lived in a grown-up world of jobs and dating and trying to catch up on sleep. She never went back to college. Her dream of wife and mother became a reality and for 25 years she was blissfully happy raising her family, caring for them, and doing all that entailed. When her children were very small she met a woodcarver. He encouraged her to try it as she was already doing small paintings on barnboards of wildlife. (What else?!!!) She was immediately hooked. Always looking younger than her actual years, the fellows, nearly all older men as it was seemingly an old man's hobby (this was many moons ago remember)- those fellows thought she was just a kid playing with knives! Boy, she sure did fool them. She asked questions, carved in the middle of the night (knives and small children don't mix), and kept on learning. She became just "one of the guys" and a buddy. Then slowly she improved enough that they began to come to HER for answers! She began instructing, competing, and judging the carving all over the country and Canada. It was a wonderful life...