Creativity is the best therapy

So since the VA is payin me to get some higher learnin I figured that it would be the perfect time to get some art therapy at the goverment's expense. I will need a certain amount of elective credits anyway so I am getting them in now while I am not the one paying for it. So last spring I took water colors....it was a great class and I had never painted with water colors before. Now I love it! I was always more of an oil and acrylic painter. Now I can say I have done a little of everything. This term I am taking ceramics handbuilding. I have worked with clay before but not in this extreme. So far I have made a flower pot, 2 small pinch pots, a turtle which my 5 year old has alreadt claimed, two oversized mugs and we are getting ready to do ceramic tile carvings. I have my clay slabs rolled out nad cut to size now I am working on ideas of what to carve in them. We have been also learning about firing, glazes and glaze science. Its so interesting and fun. Its nice because while I am working in the studio or the workshop I dont really thin of anything else. If I am having an off day then I can punch clay or build something and then squash it and start over. We have specific requirments to learn techniques but in general when we arent working on the required projects....we get to do whatever we want as long as it is something constructive. So these art classes are like creative freedom molded into therapy. Its nice because every Friday for 5 hours I can just get away from reality and just be myself in a creative way with no husband, no kids, no drama, its just me and the clay and I get to block out life for those 5 hours. If I want also on Mondays and Wednesdays I can go in there and work from noon to 5....so honestly I can do this three days a week. The only thing that isnt included in tuition is the tools and clay which isnt bad considering that you get everything you need at your fingertips whenever you need it. It is a time consuming process of hurry up and wait when your pieces are drying but its like magic watching them transform from a ball of wet clay, to a dry peice of clay, to a bisque fired object, to a glazed fully fired fully operational work of art that you build with your hands and a few tools. Most of the pieces that we build are very useable. Ceramic bowls, mugs, cups, teapots, birdbaths, plates, jars, banks, cookie jars, vases, stepping stones, ornaments, and basic decorations. I saw a flying pig, a teapot with a cock as the spout, beautiful flower pots, giant shiny vases, handmade ceramic anything.....if you can imagine it then you can build it. I think next term I will take a drawing class, or maybe sculpting....who knows my possibilities are unimagineabley huge. I used to be very creative and artsy before Bill and I got together...I used to draw, paint, write poetry and then when he got hurt and my son was born I guess I kind of lost the feeling I get when I create something. I am slowly beginning to get it back and it feels really good. I have heard before that art and creativity is a good way to either escape or to release....I think that is why I am so in love with the arts. My advice to anyone who reads this....take a class and learn something you have never done before. Get creative, build something, paint something, get a hobby....do something for yourself....because if I know most women do more for others than for themselves....I decided that it is my turn to do something that I love. Dont wait and regret that you never tried something....do it while you have the chance....then maybe you can teach someone else.