My parents passed away some time ago, and I have very little blood family left in the world. Over the last few years, it's been people in this community, maddening as it sometimes is, who have become my family. Moms, sisters, brothers, even a lover or two have come to me through my involvement with polymer clay. Let me tell you tonight, reader, about my friends, my family.

It was a polymer clay artist who told me I had a place to stay for as long as I needed it when I moved to Seattle. It was a polymer clay artist who made me think maybe I was worthy of love. It was a polymer clay artist who consoled me when loss of that love made me think I might go mad from melancholy and sorrow. It was a polymer clay artist who climbed in the window of the dorm room at Ravensdale and sat and smoked and chatted with me late at night. It was a collection of polymer clay artists who helped me through some tough financial times. It was a polymer clay artist who taught me how to improve my sculpting. It was a polymer clay artist who gave me a place to belong. It was a polymer clay artist who gave me a place to be heard. It was a polymer clay artist who has allowed me the joy of interacting with her children. It has been polymer clay artists who have talked with me till the wee hours of the morning about art, and life, and nothing at all. It has been polymer clay artists who have asked me questions and answered mine. It has been polymer clay artists who have shared with me their dreams, hopes, fears, and desires. And it has been they who have allowed me to do the same.

I don't know any Jedi Knights. I know no superstars. I know neither angels nor titans. But, my God… what a wondrous thing we have wrought. I know of no other item that one can find in nearly any craft store that has brought together so many people in so many different ways.

As I close this month's installment, I am just hours away from catching a van ride to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. I will fly to see friends I haven't seen in a year. I will fly to see friends I haven't even met. My family. I wish you all could be there. Mostly as I sit here, crushing out a cigarette in a too full ashtray, I wish that Florine Fitzmaurice and Hattie Green could be there. Two members of my family that I will not get to meet in this world. But maybe, just maybe, they have polymer clay in the next.

Tommie