Have pug, will travel
We made it to Richmond, Va! Last August, six months post-op lumbar spinal fusion surgery, I packed up my tiny apartment in San Diego and set out for a cross country drive. Taking only the essentials in my SUV, everything else was packed into a POD and shipped. I hid an Apple tracker in one of the boxes so that I could see where the truck was on its trip East while I had my own adventure state to state. Mainly I followed highway 40, which essentially used to be Rout 66, from San Diego to North Carolina and then headed North to Richmond, Va.
The cross country road trip was the experience of a lifetime! I took my time spending two and a half weeks on the road seeing the sights and taking non-highways as much as possible. I have wanted to do a solo trip for a very long time and this trip felt like an opportunity that fell right in my lap. No real plans made except to head East, no apartment lined up, no job waiting for me, no real expectations except to make it to the East Coast safely in one piece with my beloved Vinny the pug as my copilot. In fact I enjoyed being on the road so much that when I arrived at my long-term hotel at my final destination I felt a little melancholy. I didn’t want it to be over. Life on the road was simple: drive from point A to point B and see stuff along the way. But, I needed to begin the business of finding an apartment, unpacking, and setting up my new life in Richmond, Va. So, I switched gears and got down to the details.
What a blessing and good company Vinny has been in my life. He has a beautiful soul, friendly yet protective, mellow and silly, an ability to adapt to new environments and go with the flow. I really got lucky with this guy. On July 7th he will turn 9, and at this point we’ve been together 8 1/2 years, the longest one on one relationship in my life so far. I never planned on being a solo woman with a dog, but Vinny came with me after a long-term relationship disolved. So, here we are, traveling through life together, learning how to do this thing one day at a time. One of the first things we did when we planted ourselves in Richmond was look for the parks and go to our first Pug Meetup which happens the first Saturday of every month. It’s a great way to socialize and get to know the city. Vinny is good like that.
The next thing I did for myself after moving into our new apartment was to sign up for classes at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond. I had been looking forward to this for quite a while, since I had visited Richmond a year ago, in fact. I even applied for a job at VisArts but sadly was not picked. Nevertheless, I began to get involved by taking classes and getting to know the different studios and teachers. My dream is to take advantage of the resources in the letterpress studio and the silkscreen studio, to get Pugmark Press up and running! A beginning letterpress class (though I am not a beginner) got me started by learning the ins and outs of the studio and what would be available to me. By the way, I’m still blown away by how friendly everyone is here. Definitely a welcome change from Southern California. A writing class spurred a connection to my deeper self and kept me busy through the Winter which actually saw snow!
As of late, the pug world has grown for Vinny and myself. Not only do we attend regular pug meetups, but earlier this month we went to Pug Camp in Pennsyvania! I know. Pug Camp. I never knew such a thing existed. In fact, before Vinny wandered into my life as a rescued stray, I barely knew anything about pugs. Now Vinny has an Instagram page and I have become friends with many pug hoomans around the world. I have started doing pug portraits, warming up my pen & ink illustrations skills, getting back to the drawing board after many years and a pandemic. I’d like to say that I have left healthcare behind me and returned to what I was born to do: make art. So, I will say that. I believe that in the bubbling creative community of Richmond, Va I can find a place for my voice to be heard. And that’s all I’ve ever wanted.