Two years ago, Susan nearly died.

Today, she put up her photographs on Etsy.

She was abandoned by friends she cared deeply about, she had stopped taking care of herself and ended up in the hospital, very much alone and weary of many years of hiding from emotional struggles, obesity, anxiety and depression.

A beloved member of the Creative Group At Bedlam Farm, she came to one or two of our Open Houses, and embraced the creative ethos of the group and so many of her friends. She came out of her shell long enough for us to get to know her. She fell in love with our donkeys and our dogs.

She became a friend. For the past couple of years, I have watched in awe and admiration and Susan fought back to reclaim – or “reframe” – her life.  I never once saw her smile in that time.

She hardly ever stops smiling now.

Susan decided to light the creative spark and fight her way back to life. This is something so many people say they want to do, but so few actually do. It is so hard to change, I can testify to that. Most people don’t.

I think creativity is only partly about talent, it is mostly about determination. The people who want to do it do it, the people who talk about it rarely do it.

For many years, Susan’s dog Sally was her only companion.  Susan was profoundly alone. Now she and Sally are happy in their new place. Her new friends are coming to visit.

Susan’s story is the stuff of movies. She left her long-time job as a supervisor in a hospital lab, left her home and friends in Long Island, left everything that was safe and familiar to her.  bought a house smack in the middle of Cambridge, our town and began taking some very  beautiful photos.

Her photos became her voice, her way back into life. She is living near us now, is putting together a new life, with new and better friends, and her creativity is emerging with a vengeance. So her courage and determination to chart a new course for her life.

We are thrilled to get to know her at long last, and to know her is to love her.

Susan is brave and honest and caring and quite brave.

She has a new job she loves, and new friends who care for her and who she cares about. Her new home is beautiful and inviting.

Today, a new chapter in her recovery and rebirth, she opened an Etsy studio so people can see and buy her art, in traditional and new and creative ways.

I was privileged to buy one of her lovely photographs this morning for $25, it is a digital file that can be sent to anyone, and I gave my print to Carol Johnson,  who rescued Bud from an awful fate and is sending him to me in a couple of weeks.

She only has a few photographs up so far, and  Maria spent hours Saturday figuring out Etsy, it is a big and important step for her. Creativity is now a central element in her life.

Susan is an artist, her art is just bubbling up inside of her and coming out in the photos.

“I came to photography as a way to expand my creative self,” she wrote on her Etsy page,” it has helped me to reveal the person inside that was hidden for many years. It has been a huge part of the journey that I have been on, the awakening and the life that I have chosen. Thank you for taking the time to look at my work and for  being part of my joyous existence.”

Thank you, Susan, for being such a good friend to me and to Maria. We are so grateful to share our lives with you and benefit from your courage, warmth and intelligence. You are such a good friend, and such a creative human being.

This kind of message and so public a sharing of her work would have been inconceivable for Susan even a short time ago. She is coming out of hiding, she on fire. Check out her new Etsy page, it is in so many ways, a symbol of the new voice she has discovered deep within herself.