Fueling Her Fire

[“Fueling Her Fire” 6x6, available at @davidericsonfineart] I’ve had over thirty jobs in my life. It started with babysitting neighbors, working at a title company, bagel shop and dry cleaners during my teenage years. In college I had jobs making pizza, vacuuming the bookstore, secretaries, call centers, house painting crews, photography assistant, front desk... one time I had a job that paid me five cents a flier to run around and put fliers on people’s doors (it wasn’t worth it). After college, I worked for the Points of Light Foundation (in DC) and got to fly all over the country and encourage youth volunteering. When I met my husband, I was working at a University as an academic advisor. It’s been a crazy road, and it is so rewarding to be doing my dream job now! I love every day I get to go into my studio and paint! But the thing about living your dream is that there are still times when it doesn’t look like a dream, it looks like a lot of work. I will always be grateful to every single one of my previous jobs that taught me the value of rolling up my sleeves and working hard. Sometimes it’s not ideal. But sometimes there’s beauty in the grit because it’s fueling the fire. It’s another brick in building the dream. It’s getting one step closer and then another step after that. And as long as I’m moving forward, that’s the dream to me.