That's a good question. The answer to which I assume will reveal itself with time, because if there is one thing I've learned in my 37 years it's that John Lennon hit the nail on the head when he sang "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans". Obviously I've learned a bit more than that, but that oft-repeated quote is pretty bang on, don't you think?
To get to the "So what now?" stage, I'll first attempt to bring you up to speed with "So what happened?" Well, as John would be quick to point out, "life" is what happened. I moved to America in my early twenties and lived there for twelve years. This was quite contrary to what I had expected to do, which was stay in America for the 18 month duration of my visa, experience some wonderful things, come back to the UK and complete my PhD. Instead I married an American and experienced many wonderful, and some rather painful things. The marriage lasted seven years, and I'm proud of it and of us, but while I expected I would be married for the rest of my life, it didn't work out that way and I found myself at the next crossroads.
Having spent the past decade-plus working and living in the United States, I only had time to visit England for a week or more, once every year or so. It was during an annual trip home that I spent an evening crying on my brothers shoulder and lamenting the fact that I had no bloody idea what I was supposed to do next. "What do you want to do?" my brother asked. A simple enough question, and one I had asked myself repeatedly for years, but this time I only had myself to consider. I thought about travelling, going back to university, online dating, yet the answer I came up with was "I want to upholster chairs". And so I did. Here: Tresithick Upholstery and Restorations.
In October 2010, I spent six weeks in Cornwall learning the craft of traditional upholstery. It was exactly what I needed, and exactly what I wanted to do.
Fast forward one year to September 2011. I packed up my belongings, said many tearful goodbyes to my amazing friends, and moved back to England. So here I am. Sitting in my boyfriend David's flat, feeling slightly panicked, searching for jobs and writing the first post of this blog. I've never written a blog before, but I'm going to use it as a way to chart my progress and as an exercise in accountability. I need to make sure I put my money where my mouth is. OK... So what now?
I'm going to breathe new life back into old chairs, and hopefully do the same for myself in the process.
