For a few years, I was a very prolific stitcher. Not the fastest in the world, but hardly a day went by that I didn't spend some time stitching. I was a stay-at-home dad, so I often had time during nap time, or before she woke up, or during the ONLY 30 MINUTES OF SCREEN TIME A DAY THAT'S IT NOT A MINUTE MORE trust me.

Well, about 2 years ago, the wife lost her job, and decided that she wanted in on this sweet stay-at-home parent life (ha!), so I put down the (very large) project I was working on to job hunt. As soon as I get something, I'll pick it back up, I told myself. Any time not spent on the job hunt while we were two jobless adults with a kid was time wasted.

The job hunting process is so demoralizing. I picked up a bartending job after about two months, which I still do and is the best job I've ever had, but it took another 5 months before getting a "real job". But by then my brain was shot. After months of rejection, followed by 8 hours a day in a soulless office sending emails and opening and closing Excel sheets, my only hobbies ended up being getting high on the couch after bedtime and watching TV. It's been almost 2 years since I added a single stitch to that huge project.

A very close friend and coworker at the bar is leaving soon, and I got a wild spike of inspiration to make her an ornament. It took several days for me to gather up the motivation to go grab my aida and my needles and my floss, but you're now looking at the first stitches I've made in over 2 years. It feels good to have my hands back on the cloth, and here's hoping I can ride this wave right back into that big project, sitting alone and seemingly abandoned in my closet!