I had just gotten a divorce and was absolutely terrified at the prospect of dating. I was 30 years old with two young kids and at this point in my life and I thought I had it all figured out. This was about the time that the internet was really taking off so online dating was in it’s infancy. I joined AOL and started filling out my profile. When it came to listing hobbies or interests I immediately began typing all the “fun” stuff I had been doing the last 10 years. It was late at night and the kids were in bed so I was sitting there in the dark and realized all the things I had listed were my ex-husbands interests and not my own. For the life of me, I could not come up with one thing that I had chosen to follow. At this point I realized that I was living a very boring life and the relationships I’ve had over the years were all geared towards my partners interests and not my own.
So what were my interests? I drew a complete blank. I spent the next 10 years trying to figure this out, still leading a boring life. I had NO hobbies, NO crafts, NO social life. What did I do with all my spare time? I still couldn’t tell you to this day what my “spare time” was spent on. I suppose you could say that “farming” became my hobby for I had bought a small piece of land in East Texas and had my hands full trying to turn a raw piece of property into a functioning homestead. So there, homesteading was now my hobby.
A few years later I remarried, my kids had grown and moved out and I became a little more financially stable so I could at least consider taking on a hobby. But what on Earth would keep my interest long enough for me to really dive in and do something interesting? My thoughts kept going back to my childhood. As a kid growing up, I wasn’t too far from Six Flags over Texas in Arlington so I would go with either my sister or my best friend maybe once a year. I’ve always loved animals and since I couldn’t have a pet giraffe I had to settle on small glass or ceramic critters, and I had a lot of them. There was always a glass blowing vendor at Six Flags and I could watch for hours the little animals come to life from a glass rod in the flame. But I wasn’t ready to make a decision on a hobby just yet.
A few more years go by and my husband and I sold the farm in Texas and bought a home in Maine. I had suffered some family tragedies and I needed a change of scenery so I might be able to keep my sanity. One thing about living so far north is the winter days are short and you spend a lot of time inside. It’s completely dark at 4pm and I desperately needed something to fill my time and TV wasn’t the answer.
I really don’t remember how I came across my first glass purchase, I think it was a beginner set in Hobby Lobby. It was small and relatively inexpensive and I thought this would be a good place to start to see if I could keep my interest in it. I played around with it and did my fair share of burning and boiling some glass as I made some really UGLY glass beads. I was frustrated by the few colors that I had and I turned to Facebook Marketplace and found not one, but TWO people that was getting out of flameworking and they were selling their entire setup. What one lady didn’t have, the other did and so between the two purchases, I had everything I needed, including a wider variety of glass colors.
So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I think the thing about lampworking that keeps my interest is the chemistry part of it. I’m fascinated by the chemical reactions between the elements of the different glass colors. At least now they’re not QUITE so ugly, in my opinion that is.
Au Revoir my friends.
Great post