Today is my last day in the village of Johnson, Vermont, at the Vermont Studio Center. It is an incredibly sunny morning, the sky a shade a blue I'm not sure I've ever seen before. It's only 10 degrees, so bitterly cold it hurts my face to walk outside!
That being said, I've organized a Snow Play Date for some of the folks here. These Yankees need to play in the snow and watch a Southerner make a fool of herself. :) I'm pretty sure that I've successfully fought my cold and cough, and do not (as Callie said on a phone call earlier this week) sound like Darth Vader any more. A group of us are meeting to go to a park nearby to hopefully play some snow football this afternoon. Afterwards, we're going to drink hot chocolate or coffee with Bailey's in it. Now, whether I pull this off or not remains to be seen--folks are spending the day packing up and may not want to take a break--but I'm hoping it'll be fun. I'll try and post some pictures of it after I get home.
I leave Johnson tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m. My plane leaves from the Burlington airport at 7:00 a.m., goes to La Guardia, and I should be in Charlotte by 12:30 p.m.-ish. I CAN'T WAIT to see my husband.
It's been an eye-opening four weeks. The interaction with Visiting Writers, the conversations with my peers, the connections with other writers and visual artists, the community formed here--all such a joy to be part of. These are unbelieveably talented folks, good people who look at the world in ways, and through a myriad of lenses, I'd never imagined.
This month, in many ways, has been a gift. I feel my craft is stengthened, my outlook bright. I hope I can hold on to the things I've learned. I think I can.
Despite all this, I am ready to be home and with my family. We are all still heartbroken (probably always will be), but we're healing. Thank you all so very much for your emails, your prayers and good thoughts.
Photos: Burlington, Vermont and Lake Champlain
