and who I am in all of this?

A background character? An illustrator? A wife and mother? A daughter of my own watery homeland. A reader, watcher, listener. Someone with endless questions and a willingness to wait?
This process has been unlike any other (and yes, I have been pregnant and given birth during the productions).  I have been making little illustrated books since I was a child, three of which have been published and recognised in various ways, thousands of which were collaborations with the stories of others and encouraged self reflection and celebration. This has been my most distant work (or so it seems at 9:22 which might as well be 3:00 a.m. as I wake and sleep to nurse, change diapers, shake off nightmares, and feel the world getting bigger and smaller with the in breaths and out breaths of my husband and child). So very much is not in these pages, so very much has come about because of what these pages would hold.  Let there be background music and let it bring joy. Stories do not end, we just run out of pages,

or perhaps the stories themselves leave the pages altogether, to live in our posture, our hands and our mouths. The story of who I am is also woven into the work we have done together.