About 3 months ago, I had a dream that this massive storm was over Dallas. I saw debris flying and flashes of downtown. Fast forward to June 9th and that dream became a reality when me and my kids were caught in this storm leaving the craft store. Hail was falling from the sky, lightning flashing, wind blowing, and both of my babies in the backseat crying while I was struggling to see clearly enough to get us home. I tried to take our normal route home only to see that there was a tree or bush in the middle of the road appearing to be on fire. I turned around and parked near an establishment so that our vehicle would stop swaying back and forth from the heavy winds.
When the storm finally calmed down I proceeded to drive. Along the route home I noticed that several trees had fallen and some parts of the roads were flooded. In this moment I was able to express gratitude for God’s protection. I’m glad that what appeared to be a fire made me stop in my tracks and get still. One of those trees could have fallen on us if I didn’t stop driving. We could have hydroplaned and wrecked from the flood waters. However, we were safe and able to make it home. When we arrived home we learned the power was out in our neighborhood along with surrounding areas in Dallas. A crane fell downtown causing the power outage leaving over 200,000 without power.
A few hours later still no power and I began feeling overwhelmed. The kids were asleep. My husband was at work. I was sitting with my endless thoughts while both pregnant and hot. Determined to make the best of the situation, I opened the canvas and paint that I had just picked up from the craft store. I had to get out of my clothes because of the heat. Pregnancy, Texas heat, and no AC equals bad business! I prayed, meditated, became one with the canvas, and poured my soul onto it. I uncovered many emotions during this session. I confronted my fears about giving birth this time. I began to address the guilt that I had been feeling that somehow Legend’s delays and challenges with his health were my fault. I faced the mirror about the feelings of inadequacy that I had been feeling about my process because everything hasn’t happened in the timing that I hoped for. I was honest and vulnerable in this space as I “stripped” down to the root of my feelings.
When I finised, I saw that this was by far my best painting to date. Slowly but surely after this, my healing journey began to unfold even more during the month of June. I went to therapy every week, did prenatal yoga, and continued on my “Sacred Woman” journey courtesy of Queen Afua. Just as I was able to find beauty in the storm and deeper gratitude for our safety, I was also able to find beauty in being honest about my emotions that transferred to the canvas as healing.
To view the featured painting in this post, you can check it out in my art gallery .
You are truly blessed, talented, strong, and a blessing!!