Inspired by my darling niece.

I cant believe 2015 is here already. And I also cant believe I slacked off and didnt post on here in December. Actually, I can believe that. December was a CRAZY month. I think I will write about my busy month in another post. This one is all about Mia. My 7 year old niece. The girl who drives me crazy, that never shuts up and who I love dearly.

When I made the huge decision to quit my full time job in early 2014, a lot of reasons were due to family. Perhaps I knew there was something coming our way (again!) that I needed to be around to deal with. So in October when we were shocked with Mia’s diagnosis of Leukemia, I was glad I wasnt needing to be at work all the time and could be around to help.

Mia hasnt been at school since the diagnosis and after her initial stay in hospital I wanted to help try get her off the couch and up and about. I invited her to help me make tags for my markets. This proved to be a great job for Mia and something she loved doing. So much so that she asked to come back the following week and help again. In the lead up to Christmas she had three tag making days with me. The last one was all about the Christmas tags and we made 600 of them. Yes, 600 tags.

Having her work alongside me was such a great feeling. She enjoyed it and was really committed to getting them all made. She told me off for talking to much and I had to ask to take a toilet break. She was so excited to hear that the first batch sold out at a market and also happy when I handed over to her some money I had made.

This last week she has been knocking on my workroom door wanting to help (it is next door to her house). I have been trying hard to find things for her to do that don’t involve my assistance so I can continue getting my late orders done.  So sorting my papers into colour order seemed to be a hit as well as reoganising all my inks. Then there was the actual workroom cleanup. It was much overdue due to the craziness in the lead up to Christmas. Perhaps it was Mia’s words telling me what a mess it was which made me move the cleanup a couple days earlier.

As she continues to find joy in being my little assistant and loving paper like I do, I will continue to have her help me. I see a market stall for her tags in the future!