The Threads of Life

Welcome to the Gossamer Blog.

Hello, my friend. I’m so glad you found me.

I’m going to start by explaining how I chose its name.

noun: gossamer

· a fine, filmy substance consisting of cobwebs spun by small spiders, seen especially in autumn.

· used to refer to something very light, thin, and insubstantial or delicate.

"in the light from the table lamp, his hair was blond gossamer"

Definition from Oxford Languages

On a surface level, the word gossamer felt quite frail. However, the longer I sat with its meaning, the more I realized it may be the best definition of the small things in life I hold dear. Let me explain in three quick parts.

Part One: Peace

In the fall I get up at dawn and go outside. I’m not really a morning person, so there must be a sufficient reason for getting up. I do this because I want to see the morning dew on spiderwebs throughout the forest next to my home. Each one is a unique piece of art vital to the spider’s life. These creatures’ way of ensuring a food supply is so transparent it’s easy to walk past. I believe we as humans often ignore the piece of another person which makes them unique and vital. I don’t like living in a world where I can’t see the good people bring. To circumvent this, I surround myself with the wonder of nature that helps me uncover the wonder in humanity. Each nearly gossamer web, real or metaphorical, brings me a sense of peace because living beings create beautiful things that give life to others.

Part Two: Love

I was obsessed with dresses as a child. I refused to wear pants until I was forced to wear them for a school trip when I was ten years old. I loved the idea of how each dress had a different purpose. I had dresses for home, school, and special occasions. Women on TV had dresses for awards shows, lunches, dinners, weddings, funerals, parties, their occupations, and more. To me, dresses told the world who a person was. I would imagine a dress for every scenario, real or imagined, and draw them out. I would think about the texture and color of the fabric. I loved each detail down to the weave of the material. It always amazed me how things like plants and trees could be turned into a gossamer thread ready to be woven into material. Then, it would get cut apart and stitched together into a dress perfectly designed to tell the world who someone was. Our love and self-expression do not care about difficulty or process. We start small and build because we must.

Part Three: Joy

As a child and still to this day, I love a well-wrapped present. There is something magical about receiving a gift in colorful paper tied up with ribbons. It almost doesn’t matter what is inside because the giver took such good care to make sure it was beautiful from the outside in. I’m not one to rip into the gift. I like to enjoy the type of knot in the bow and the way the tape was placed carefully. I love a non-descript box, so the surprise hangs in suspense a few moments longer. After the box is opened, the gift is usually shrouded in tissue paper. The last barrier between you and whatever is inside. Sometimes you can almost make out what’s beneath the almost-translucent paper. That small gossamer sheet is the last bit of anticipation before a burst of discovery and joy.

To me, the gossamer things in life such as a web or thread or tissue paper are the makers of peace, love, and joy. These words have been my mantra for far longer than my knowledge of mantras. Over time, I would like to share some of these moments with you.

My hope with the gossamer blog is that by sharing my life and art, it will allow you to reach out with your thread. I would love to start a community who stitches together our unique gossamer experiences into an invisible yet essential quilt of beautiful things.

What’s the web of your life made from?