I LOVED my residency time. It was a space for me to just focus on my art, and truly let myself BE an artist. The art just poured out of me when I gave it the space and time. For a long time I had considered myself a teacher/trainer/facilitator/coach first and artist second, but my time at Foundation House helped me see that I am an artist first, and everything else flows from there. Since then I have been introducing myself as an artist and facilitator, in that order. My residency was also a pivotal moment in seeing all my work as a whole, even in all its disparate parts. Actually it was something Mimi said about my braiding that helped me see this - she said 'oh yes it makes sense that you do braids because it's all part of your swirling, intricate designs, connecting together ethos' or something like that. I now see both my art and my facilitation as part of a whole essence of helping people weave together parts of themselves, swirl through the mess, connect more deeply through sharing truths, and express hard things through art and story. I had not seen that before the residency. You all seeing me as an artist helped me take myself seriously in a way I'd always wanted to. As you know, I had swum in depression and purposelessness for awhile in the years leading up to my time at Foundation House, and the residency was a catalyst for so much alignment and forward motion in my life. It was truly life-changing and has set me on a path I barely dared to dream of before.