My friend Suzanne is writing a book about her life that is meant to be helpful to others... She hasn't been to the Bounday Waters, but she loves the idea and its potential for metaphor and symbolism. She is an accomplished artist and graphic designer, but has recently become an art therapist, working with the elderly and handicapped, so asked me to design her book jacket for her. She said that my beginning efforts have made her book seem more real to her. I have other ideas that are forming from the process, and it's a way for me to continue with my creativity while I'm pursuing another line of work -- health care -- so that I can actually take care of myself financially.
It is painful to realize that I have to give up graphic design, at least temporarily, but I have to eat and pay rent, and becoming a CNA (certified nursing assistant) is an excellent way to pay the bills, and at the same time, help someone. I know that I will treat my patients with kindness and respect, and that I'll be the kind of aide that I would have wanted for my mother when she was in a nursing home. It's a kind of noble feeling that is tempered with a dread of the hard work -- the not-so-pretty work of taking care of people that can't do things for themselves.
We never know what is around the corner. I never dreamed I would be a nursing assistant again after 30-some years, but here I am. The good part is that I can take this with me anywhere in the country and find employment. I won't have to worry about whether or not an area is saturated with designers, because health care if a growing and lucrative field. I just have to accept that I gave up my dream.
