Spreading Rainbows...NOT Just A Shameless Plug

First, before I continue, let me just state (for the record) that this bloggage is not a shameless plug. ;)

Shameless Pug ;) 

    Today, as w/ many vending outings, I had the opportunity for Spreading Rainbows to act in its intended capacity in my life. Sometimes, I get the opportunity, at events to share the back story of why I do tie-dyes and why the name itself. Spreading Rainbows emerged out of a necessity for self-preservation. After the (yes, I chose this path) falling out w/ my mother in roughly October 2018 I dove headlong into a pretty deep depressive state that continued to rattle my chi well into the summer of 2019, Juneteenth to be exact. I knew what was happening to me emotionally, I was grieving (still am). However, the knowledge of this didn’t equal acknowledgment and I was only doing enough personal work to keep my head above water, suffice to say I wasn’t even really doing a good dog paddle.

Dog Paddle Swimming for Survival

Anyway…long story short, Spreading Rainbows arose out of that, much-needed, acknowledgment. I realized I needed to do something to start spreading rainbows in my life and that part of that had to also be a way to do the same in others' lives. After all, the only real way to spread joy in your own life is to spread joy in others' lives.

But how??

    I realized, w/ quite an immediate epiphany that the only way I was going to begin pulling myself out of the funk was to revive an OLD hobby, 30+ years old to be honest. I’d start making tie-dyes again. It wasn’t, to my chagrin, as easy to jump into this old survival tool as I expected it to be. I had the basic knowledge but my skills had wavered beyond amateur as if they had ever been anything but less than armature back in the day.

Truth is, I only made them as, literally, a way to survive a somewhat lengthy stint of living on the street in my late teens/early 20s. The place I called ‘home’ was the Va. Beach boardwalk and, well, while every store had tie-dyes (all the same tie-dyes) a local beach bum selling tie-dyes was kind of a commodity, and a dutiful middle finger to ‘the man’. There were several of us ‘dial dogs’ (our main hang out in the evenings was the long since gone sundial on 17^th St. so, that’s what we called ourselves) that went in together to get the cheapest stuff we could find to make tie-dyes during the summer in 87.

They were cheaply made and cheaply sold for no more than $10 each. AND…Most of them looked just like my first batch in 2019.

Anyway, I was on a mission in June 2019, and despite the setback, amid a bunch more mental health challenges based on how discouraged I felt after that first batch, I trudged on and began honing my skills and before long I was knocking out some extremely beautiful pieces of my own art. 

Ok, I digressed a little hard there…LOL, It’s a challenge to stay on topic when I’m not writing stuff out, let alone when I am. Gotta just love executive function delays.

As I said at the beginning, “Today, as w/ many vending outings, I had the opportunity for Spreading Rainbows to act in its intended capacity in my life.” Some folks come into my booth and just sorta look, sometimes they buy sometimes they don’t but, even then, when they do buy it’s not w/ any real level of enthusiasm. On the other hand, there are those who jump into my booth w/ excitement, they find THEIR piece, and the joy and exuberance they share w/me makes what I do all worthwhile. Their joy, real happiness over the find, reminds me that the whole point to this venture is Spreading Rainbows in my life and in the lives of others. I had several of those joy filled beings in my booth today, and while I didn’t make much more than to cover the bills that are due NOW, I came home w/ a full heart…and  that’s kinda the point, yes?