When we first moved to the west coast, I was anxious to find a place to belong. I had been part of a wonderfully inspiring collage group on the east coast, so I decided to search for something similar near our new home. After checking the internet, local adult schools, and every art related venue within a reasonable distance, I eventually learned of a class, led by the talented artist and photographer Lisa Rigge, which met monthly to practice something called “Dream Collage.”  Lisa first led a discussion based on a predetermined topic related to dreaming (animals in our dreams, or water, for example), then participants would create a collage based on their own experiences with that week’s subject matter. While it wasn’t exactly what I had been looking for, collage was involved, so I decided to give it a try.

This is probably a good time to tell you, I don’t remember my dreams. Well, not much of them anyway. There are one or two I can recall in their entirety from childhood, but as far as dreaming in adulthood is concerned, I have only been able to elicit a few fleeting snippets. This made attending Lisa’s class a bit like being a vegetarian at a pig roast, but that’s not to say I didn’t get anything out of it. Lisa is so knowledgeable about the subject matter, she could easily teach a college level course comparing the dream theories of Sigmund Freud to Carl Jung, while making it both interesting and completely understandable. And the other attendees made it worthwhile as well, as they were kind and welcoming at a time when kind and welcoming was exactly what I needed. I found the discussions lively and interesting, and everyone’s willingness to share, refreshing. Ultimately my inability to conjure up any recent dreams, as well as the timing of the class, caused me to stop attending, but Lisa and I keep in touch, sharing collage techniques from time to time, and occasionally sending information we think the other might find useful.

Then there’s Laura…

Laura and I met on a train bound for New York City and became fast friends when we realized we were both traveling to the same class.  Having similar interests, and both being stay at home moms at the time, we spent a great deal of time drinking tea together and contemplating everything from the best way to get our kids to eat vegetables, to our roles in the universe.  We were both curious about blogging, so we set up a weekly writing exchange to explore the idea further. Each Friday we sent one another a prospective blog post, followed a few days later by constructive criticism (by the way, this is an UNBELIEVABLLY good way to determine if you enjoy writing regularly, can meet a deadline, and are comfortable sharing personal information).  I had just received feedback from Laura on an essay about a recurring dream I had as a child (which I may not have remembered at all had I not attended a few Dream Collage sessions), when…

I received an email from Lisa telling me of an open call for submissions to The Rose in The World, a publication to which she subscribes. I sent my essay in the next day and it was chosen for publication!

Getting a piece of writing published was a goal of mine, so I was not only honored, but thrilled. Was it lucky timing? Synchronicity? While I do believe in such things, I think something much more controllable was at play.

I almost left Lisa’s class before getting to know her, because it wasn’t really what I was looking for. I almost gave up on the exchange with Laura, because as an inexperienced writer, each essay took a crazy amount of time to compose. In both instances though, I chose to keep going, because the women and the activities fit into my larger goals: to Create, Connect and Grow. I am only now beginning to fully appreciate how much more likely I am to reach my goals when I have a road map to guide me in the right direction.