Adorning the Dark

In 2018, I found a book called “Adorning the Dark” by Andrew Peterson. I think I found it because I had been daydreaming about attending Hutchmoot. Simply attending the event would have been a dream come true. I didn’t dare to think I could be a part of the Rabbit Room or become friends with any of “those people.” They were the cool kids. They were published, they performed live, they were known. I was not.

So when I started reading “Adorning the Dark” I must admit that I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. It was as it always had been, I was an outsider. I was doomed to live on the outskirts of life and I would never “amount to anything” or be able to share my thoughts, my music, or my art.

But as I read this book, something inside of me changed. Andrew became a mentor and guide to me. I found him to be approachable and gentle, he was kind and thoughtful. As he described his feelings and shared his music writing process, I found myself more, well, more myself than I had ever felt before. And I felt something else: kinship.

The feeling of belonging, of not being alone, is very powerful. I felt it when I read this book. And it started healing something in me and I found myself calling myself a singer and songwriter, an artist, a poet. My work found respect with the one person who should know to respect an artist, me! Andrew’s book gave me enough courage to begin writing in earnest and recording on my phone. I now have 35 songs, 11 completed and 24 still being nurtured into their final form.

I do not know what the future holds, but I do know that I walk into the future a more complete “me” than ever before and, I am not alone.

Andrew Peterson’s book site: https://adorningthedark.com/

Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson