“Blackbird”

In 2023 my 6 year-long relationship ended. Everything I knew about my future crumbled in front of me. I reluctantly left Vermont to heal. Back in my childhood home in Woodstock, Connecticut, I was comatose for two weeks. I couldn’t eat or sleep. All I could do was devise a plan to get back to the comfort of my now-ended relationship.

My mom and I traveled around Connecticut and New York, visiting family on Long Island and the Hamptons. She wanted me to see new places and experience the joy of life again. I didn’t want to, but I knew I needed to. I had to figure out a way to get through something that, at the time, felt insurmountable.
I had no clue who I was or what I wanted in life. My personality and happiness had revolved around my previous partner.

Sitting in sadness, fear, and loneliness, I knew I also had to reach out to my artistic community. This opened doors I never could have imagined. The support from my mentors, friends, and family collectively saved me.

I started to listen to music again as a way to heal. This became one of the most important tools in my life for managing stress and change.

I dove headfirst into a new creative exploration.

I packed my bags and returned to the woods of Vermont where I walked my dog, listening to the birds and their songs. I traveled to New York City and viewed world-famous artwork I had studied, providing fresh inspiration to my creative process. I made a promise to myself that I would always seek something more, so my life would never become stagnant again. With that promise, my artistic energies began to flow as quickly as a freshwater stream in springtime. I finally felt that love for life I had lost. My need to create grew tenfold.

Blackbird is my new lease on life. It is the strength and power of being a woman. It is the birdsong in the woods as I am walking my dog. The first plants that pop up in spring. Blackbird is the music that helped me cope with loss and change, and the people who believed in me when I couldn’t myself.