Mother's Day:

I wanted to give a moment to say 'thank you' to my Mom. She was a good mother to me when I was a kid and continues to be a supportive, understanding, and positive parent to me now as an adult (a switch I think must be hard for a parent to make between parenting the young and parenting the adult).

It's said that as a parent, you parent each kid differently based on what they need. I was left very much to my own creativity and exploration as a kid. I was given a very long leash to be away from the house with only the expectation that I tell them what direction I was going and to call if that changed and to be home by supper. Julia kids that I'm lucky I'm still alive with all the places I went and things I did, but I think my parents let me discover me. There would be no Mouse Guard without the freedom I was given.

My Mom was very involved with me artistically as a kid. She would involve me in her various crafting projects and later became involved in my crafting projects. She sewed all of my Halloween costumes until I was old enough to be making my own from scratch. One of those, a Mickey Mouse, was one that I wanted to alter from the pattern. The Mickey was in formal dress and I wanted to be traditional red-shorts Mickey. She was sceptical at first, but between the two of us, we figured out how to use ready made items and alter the pattern to accommodate for our changes. It was only the first time we would sit up late in the dining room steering away from the printed pattern and directions. Each time going further and further away from what was expected.

I think some of that seat of the pants, figure-it-out-as-you-go stuff is what pushes me when I'm making my models for Mouse Guard. Sure there are printed model sets I can use that are made by gaming companies, but each time I make a model, I want to push further away from that expected-store-bought mentality until I'm making something uniquely 'me'.

So, Thanks Mom!!