Given an Opportunity

Thursday night we took the kids to the circus.  I think this year marks the 7th year in a row we've gone.  No, we are not crazy circus people, rather we are given the opportunity to go each year with a group of peeps, so we take it.  And now our kids look forward to it each year.  Anyhoo, I tell you this because of a conversation that came about during the circus watching. 

So here's the scene:  Mailey is of course in my lap maintaining she can not see over the people in front of her.  In all honesty I think she can't stand that William got the seat by me first.   Yes, my children have "Mommyitis".  The first act involved the ENTIRE arena air space.  Seriously I didn't know exactly which spot to look, but they were all doing sorta the same thing so I focused on the ones directly in front of my eyes.  Picture women dressed in spandex body suits (sparkly of course) suspended way up in the air in hula hoops.  They were wiggling around and making magic moves in these hula hoops.  I was freaking out a twinge at A. the height they were suspended in the air given my fear of certain height thingies and B. that they were wearing SLIPPERY spandex gliding in, out and all around the hoops with ease. 

I must have said something aloud because Mailey said, "Mom, they have grippies all over those suits."  "Oh, like the socks I got with the frog pj's....you know the green ones with grippy dots?""Yes Mom."  So I was feeling a little better about the situation knowing that the grippy dots, like the ones on my frog pj socks, were indeed keeping them from falling to their deaths.  I must have said something aloud again about NEVER wanting to do my own hula hoop act because Mailey then said, "OH I WOULD DO THAT!"  Just as confidant as if she were saying yes, she would go to the American Girl Store.  Of course I was a little taken back at her certainty of doing such acts in a hula hoop.  And then she said, "If given the opportunity that is".  Just as plain and simple as that.  "If given the opportunity".  Wow.

Have you ever given a thought to what you would do if "given an opportunity?"  I can't seem to get the words out of my head.  And I suppose more than anything I'm thinking about the opportunities that were given to me that I let slide by.  Dang it. 

As I spent literally hours Friday compiling artwork for the show I thought back to the day Vero emailed me this amazing opportunity to show my work as a Solo Show.  I remember the butterflies, the anticipation, the excitement, the joy.  It's an opportunity I seized and will be forever grateful for.  It's an opportunity that quite honestly I may never get again.  I suppose that's why I've been so crazy emotional around everyone I love right now.  It's not anywhere near as BIG a deal to them as it is to me.  But this is not a show in a church or a school or on the streets of Atlanta.  This is in a gallery.  And all the attention will be on the body of work I've poured my heart and soul into since January.  I can't wait to share the joy, love and this opportunity with my friends and family.  Because if you really study the images on the canvases, that's what they are all about.