Re-emerging in the Regency

In 2019, the month of May brought joy and pain in my life. It was a mix of having just fulfilled one of my lifelong dreams of having a photo shoot in Versailles, France and having the shock of my life with my mother's passing. The reality is that one week you could have the time of your life and the next, tragedy could hit that makes you re-think the rest of your life.

At the time of my mother's death, I was very far removed from doing anything creative. I have to admit it was the darkest time of my life in every aspect. As a designer who has been sewing since the age of 5, I'm very much affected by mood and my mom was a big part of my design life.

One of the things my mom would always ask was "are you sewing?" Mothers always know what to say to gauge how our day is really going and that was the magic question. My mom would ask it to make sure I was okay, because she just knew if I wasn't sewing that there was something wrong. It wasn't until now, when someone brought up the special bond mothers and daughters have did I realize how important that question is in my life.

There have been a lot of things during the grieving process that I've realized and one of them is my love of Jane Austen. She has been a constant source of entertainment and comfort since my high school days in the mid 90's. This year, I wanted to find a calm in the the craziness and I found exactly that in re-reading Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma (currently reading Northanger Abbey and Persuasion). I even leveled up and became a Jane Austen Society of North America member and started sewing Regency inspired dresses.

Leave it to Jane Austen to help me (and I'm sure others) through the tough times. I will ride the Regency wave and keep asking myself "are you sewing?" Keeping my mom in my mind while I regain the creative spirit each time I finish a dress.