everyone but you

Tonya at Adventure Journalist is one of my oldest blogging friends.  It's because of her that we own land in the San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado.  You can see some of her exquisite photos of the SLV here and here and here.  Several months back Tonya took an indefinite break from blogging.  Although I missed her blog terribly, I surely understood the need for a break.  I continued to check in on her at Flickr.  But then all hell broke loose at my workplace and I got distracted by that and the election and fell woefully behind in checking in with everyone.  But Tonya had been on my mind a lot the past couple of weeks.  Yesterday I went to her Flickr stream to see what she's been up to...and discovered that she and her family have left the San Luis Valley and moved to rural Maine.  It made me sad to think she's no longer in the SLV (although I love change as much as the next person).  The good news is that she's blogging again, so I caught up on all of her recent posts. 

In one post she mentioned a musician who's made a documentary about his struggles with the music industry and his life in the SLV.  I watched the preview for the film on YouTube...and was knocked out.  Maybe it's because I have a mate and so many friends in the music business.  (And make no mistake, it's the music business--at this stage of the game it has very little to do with art.)  Maybe it's because it's set in the SLV which holds a huge place in our hearts even though we still haven't been there.  But I think it's more than that.  I think Eric Shiveley has made a film with a universal message--one that I suspect many of you can identify with. 

The film has its world premiere at Ohio's Oxford International Film Festival this Friday night.  It will be screened at Colorado Springs' Indie Spirit Film Festival on April 25th.  Here's an interview with Eric Shiveley from last Fall at Westword.  I tipped the NPR morning show "Bryant Park Project" to Eric's film, 'cause they're Twitter pals.  Looks like they were knocked out, too.  ;) 

What has always inspired me about Tonya's life is that she creates it.  I've followed along the past several years through her travels and moves and home schooling her kids and wedding plans and business ventures and...her life.  And there's so much life within her life.  And that's what I take away from both T and Eric--especially when it feels like fortune has rained down on everyone but you--it's your life...claim it.