GRANDMA MOSES AND ME
I'm too old and it's too late, played over and over in my mind. I was discouraged and exhausted after ending my marriage and my law career at the same time. Despite my intense desire to become a writer, I doubted my ability to succeed as one. Had I wasted years pursuing the wrong goals? I was a low point when the voice on the radio began telling the story of Grandma Roses. Ann Mary Moses left home at 13, bore 10 children and worked hard to raise the 5 who survives. Struggling to make a living on poor farms, she managed to provide a bit of beauty for herself by embroidering on canvas.
At 78, her fingers became too stiff to hold a needle. Rather than give in to debility, she went out to the barn and began to paint. On Masonite panels she created brilliantly coloured, precisely detailed scenes of country life. For the first two years, these were either given away or sold for a pittance. But at the age of 79, she was "discovered" by the art world - and the rest is history. She went on to produce more than 2,000 paintings and her book illustrations for 'Twas the Night Christmas' were completed in her 100th year! As I listened to the radio, my mood changed. If Grandma Moses could begin a new career and succeed after 80, my life still had hope after 30. Before the program ended, I charged to my computer to work on the novel I'd nearly abandoned. It was published eight months later.
Liah Kraft-Kristaine - extracted from 'Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul', Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jennifer Read Hawthorne and Marci Shimoff, Health Communications, Inc; 1996.
I'm too old and it's too late, played over and over in my mind. I was discouraged and exhausted after ending my marriage and my law career at the same time. Despite my intense desire to become a writer, I doubted my ability to succeed as one. Had I wasted years pursuing the wrong goals? I was a low point when the voice on the radio began telling the story of Grandma Roses. Ann Mary Moses left home at 13, bore 10 children and worked hard to raise the 5 who survives. Struggling to make a living on poor farms, she managed to provide a bit of beauty for herself by embroidering on canvas.
At 78, her fingers became too stiff to hold a needle. Rather than give in to debility, she went out to the barn and began to paint. On Masonite panels she created brilliantly coloured, precisely detailed scenes of country life. For the first two years, these were either given away or sold for a pittance. But at the age of 79, she was "discovered" by the art world - and the rest is history. She went on to produce more than 2,000 paintings and her book illustrations for 'Twas the Night Christmas' were completed in her 100th year! As I listened to the radio, my mood changed. If Grandma Moses could begin a new career and succeed after 80, my life still had hope after 30. Before the program ended, I charged to my computer to work on the novel I'd nearly abandoned. It was published eight months later.
Liah Kraft-Kristaine - extracted from 'Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul', Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jennifer Read Hawthorne and Marci Shimoff, Health Communications, Inc; 1996.
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