The Old Landmark
Last summer, I had an urge to go home and capture as much family history as possible from my grandmother. I forfeited my summer plans, boarded a plane from California to Tennessee, and set up the camera every time grandma beckoned for me to grab her box of sponge hair rollers and roll her hair. Our conversations during that time ranged from memories of her childhood, unsolicited advice on my life, and laying out the latest scoop on the family. Without fail, each visit taught me more and more about myself and it gave me a roadmap on how to move forward in my journey.
I noticed the decline of grandma’s memory with each visit home throughout the year. Now one year later, I’m slowly understanding the purpose of the urgency with our time together. Yes, my visits were about helping to take care of grandma, but it was also a direction back to living fully in my light and purpose. I’ve always been a multifaceted person with interests in fashion, art, and now holistic healing. But the depths of who I am and what I can achieve could only be accomplished by doing one thing, and that’s returning home. There’s an old gospel song called, The Old Landmark which illustrates the idea that we should "remember the things we need to remember - about ourselves; about our callings; about our priorities. We go back for renewal. We go back - having left at least once - to complete whatever was left unfinished, so we can move unencumbered into our next chapter.”
My Old Landmark is grandma’s house with emphasis on her backyard. Once filled with a peach tree, a pecan tree, okra, corn, tomatoes and whatever seeds my great grandma decided to plant; it’s now a haven for me to create and a guiding light for my journey. Noticing and researching all the medicinal flowers around the backyard has undoubtedly inspired me to keep developing my floral tea brand helping others to heal.
Creating the paintings for my collection “Come Roll My Hair” in her backyard allowed time to observe the patterns of nature and compare it to the patterns of family. Without fail, every evening a few red birds flew around the yard, the crickets became louder as the sun set, the neon lights from the lightening bugs began to flash as the sky turned dark, and the flowers closed the petals for the day. The birds, insects, and everything else around knew that it was time to end the day or pass on the duties to the next shift to keep the ecosystem going. Being very intentional with their time and energy, and moving throughout the day with confidence that tomorrow will take care of itself is a life lesson that the old landmark has embedded in me forever.
“A landmark is defined as “an event or development that marks a turning point or a stage”
We will reinvent ourselves many times within this lifetime, but if you’re on a journey of self discovery, allow the landmark to show you which way to go and move without wavering. Your old landmark might not be a physical place, but rather a feeling, a dream, or people that will lead you back to yourself. Let the landmark be a grounding place like a confidant or a sounding board to look back knowing it’s always there to support you, ground you, hold you up, advise and keep you on the right path. May you go with faith, charisma, and the confidence that you’re rooted, anchored and you will achieve everything needed to leave behind a landmark for others with your purpose. The road will take twists and turns, it’ll go uphill and downhill, it will be sunny and rainy, sometimes you’ll crawl, walk, run, or fly; but don’t leave the path that the landmark has set for you. Sometimes slowing down and revisiting the past is actually an avenue to speed up. I’m not sure how long this old landmark revisit will last, but as long as it’s working on me and for me, I’m surrendering to it.
I invite you to watch my film and painting performance The Old Landmark now on YouTube.
