Crown anniversaries

On 28 May this year, Mr Namasi and I celebrated our 'crown' anniversary: 28 years of marriage. More than half a lifetime.

Today, here I am, at 5:30 in the morning, headed for Heathrow airport with my husband (he's driving, obviously) to collect my Mom, who's coming for a visit.

Seventeen years ago, on this very day: 17 June, I was headed for Heathrow with two little boys to start a new life in the UK. I wasn't driving on that occasion, either. I left that to the pilot. I'm generous like that.

So much has changed since we arrived:

I got ink

My sons have grown up. The elder one works as a duty manager at a well known hotel chain. The younger one is on the management team of an independent sporting goods business.

I have changed. I called time on my previous career and became your friendly Upsycho. I got ink. Yup. Having said I never would.

Some things haven't changed. Mr Namasi is still my rock and safe place. My Mom is still my Mom. I don't get to see her very often these days, living as we do on two different continents, so I might be a bit quiet while she's here. Gotta make the most of having her here and all that.

Take care of yourselves in the meantime. There's a lot of ugliness about at the moment. Let's rebel against it. 

By way of introduction to this new chapter

I take a lot of flak for the fact that I haven't written in such a long time. So okay, okay already. I'm writing.

One of Karyn's Kreations

If you followed my erratic learning journey during my previous chapter, you will know that I am no stranger to depression. A few years ago, the black dog paid a visit. He had visited before, but this time, he looked set to stay. It. Was. Dire!

Gradually, after a few years of mist and fog, I began to feel that I might finally be coming out from under. I was headhunted and took a 'proper job' in a company and everything.

But after a series of setbacks in my personal life, and some disappointments in my professional one, I decided to call it a day. My manager was very understanding and we parted on good terms.

Initially, I looked for part time or contract work in the field of L&D (Learning and Development), which had been my consuming passion for lo these 25 years and change. But I just wasn't feeling it any more. I was tired. I was tired of having the same conversations that I had been having for 10 years and more, about technology in learning and the future of the field. I was tired of dealing with the same objections. I was tired of starting every project with the client enthusiastically calling for innovation, only to observe the client's feet growing progressively colder, until we ended the project with more of the same. I was tired of farting against thunder. I was tired of not making a difference.

I have always been a keen crafter and pretty good with my hands. Gradually I found myself doing it on a full time basis.

So now I dress in dungarees and Crocs. I wield a paintbrush, or a sander, or a beading needle or any of a vast array of other tools large and small. I am usually covered in sawdust. Or paint. Or both. I might even be bleeding (remember the beading needle?). And I love it.

I upcycle old and tired pieces of furniture or clothing. I make stuff out of reclaimed... well, stuff. Like wood. Or beads. Or mirrors. Or whatever else I find. And I advertise it in various spaces (like this one, for example), hoping to move it on to a new home. I undertake commission work for clients: restoring beautiful oak kitchen counters, or garden furniture that is showing signs of age. I have even been known to do a spot of painting (walls, not canvasses!).

The name 'upsycho' as you might have deduced, is a conflation of 'upcycle' (which is what I do) and 'psycho' (which is a nod to my struggles with mental health issues).

I am currently on the hunt for a physical space from which to sell my 'kreations' so that my long-suffering husband can stop falling over things en route to the dog food bin, the tumbledrier, or his scooter. Watch this space.

And that is enough context setting. Posts from this point on will be about this stage of my journey. This chapter. Are you up for coming along?