Beginnings and Endings

On Marinating and Going Back to School

The end of the year is on its way. If you’re like me, this means you are just starting your holiday shopping, stocking your cupboards with Children’s ibuprofen, refilling a pinkeye Rx—just to be ready—and putting a vomit bucket near each child’s bed. (There really is no better feeling as a parent than when your child pukes fully into a bucket). «Hard nod to my update last week about the duality of life.»

Last night we made hot chocolate, asked Google to play some Christmas tunes, and set up our fake tree. My nine-year-old had recurring gasps over how he remembers certain ornaments from “when he was a kid.” I didn’t know nostalgia could kick in for a human who hasn’t quite seen a full decade of life, but here we are. My almost four-year-old seemed genuinely surprised that we were doing this Christmas thing again, and the six-year-old was focused on ornamenting the tree and making sure there were chocolate chip cookies for the process. My 1w9 spouse was also hyper-fixated on lighting the tree with carefully placed string lights that—to our luck—did not need any replacement bulbs this year! I do love these rhythms and seeing the joy the kids have as we enter into Advent. (I know we set up a tree too early for Advent rules).

New Beginnings

This month I began a mentorship program for illustrators and had a formal portfolio review. The agent was in the UK and I politely woke up at 3:30 AM CST without any questions to make it to our Zoom meeting. She could clearly tell by my face that I should not be awake and asked what time it was for me. I told her it was 3:30 AM and her jaw dropped, she became extremely apologetic and let me know I could reach out to ask for a different time in the future. And as if I haven’t already learned this life lesson, I am going to write it down here: ask for what you need and don’t make assumptions, the art agent doesn’t want to make you wake up at 3:30 AM. I am working on some assignments that will challenge me to develop more consistency in the characters I draw and play with other color palettes and settings. I look forward to sharing some of those with you in the coming weeks.

I’m also gearing up for my first 10-day residency, in January, after being accepted into Hamline’s Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults. I have been on the fence for quite some time about going back to school. Especially because I am only a few credits shy of a Master’s degree in Education. I assumed that if I return to higher ed, it should be to finish what I started.

Career Pivoting and Campus Housing

My career began in the classroom as an ELL teacher by way of Teach For America (don’t @ me). I was required to attend Hamline (ironically) from 2011-13 to complete my teaching licensure and continued on toward a TESOL Master’s degree until I was slapped in the face with morning sickness and withdrew at the dawn of my thesis research (as if anyone cares, it was going to be about how Graphic Novels scaffold non-English speakers’ language acquisition and enhance Tier 3 vocabulary comprehension by way of high visual supports… shameless plug to let your children read all of the graphic novels they want because they are AMAZING and middle schoolers are God’s greatest gift to earth!).

Back then, circa 2013, my husband John and I were both teaching and coaching in the same school district and had pictured building our life, family, and career in that community. John’s Phy Ed & Health teaching job was plagued by budget cuts each year and he began to consider other career paths.

By night, John was a Hall Director on campus at our alma mater—Concordia University, St. Paul (Go Bears!). We lived on campus and he supervised the RAs in upperclassmen apartment-style housing. One of his RAs told him about the career outlook for airline pilots and how much fun he had doing a Discovery Flight at Thunderbird Aviation. Long story short—John did a discovery flight himself and was bit by the (extremely expensive) aviation bug and now, 10 years later, flies 737s for Delta Air Lines and has a mustache. Life is funny like that.

I’d like to point out that we lived on a college campus for a total of 8 years—four as students and another four as newlyweds. We got engaged in Holst Hall and brought our first baby home to Holst Hall lol. Our date nights were occasionally interrupted by policy-breakers and incident reports but other than that, the comped housing very much fit into our Dave Ramsey Era and the babysitting pool was top-notch. If anyone at Concordia would like to offer us a tuition reimbursement for this plug please email me directly at sarapimentalillustration [at] gmail [dot] com, thank you.

Me and John, departing Concordia in 2015 after 8 years of living on campus

Once John got all the certifications and flight hours he needed to become a Flight Instructor, he left his teaching job to pursue a career in aviation. We moved across the country to Phoenix, Arizona where he taught international students to fly small airplanes while I worked remotely as a fundraiser for a non-profit.

Our family circa 2016

After a couple of years, John got his first job with the airlines, we moved back to the Twin Cities, added another baby to the crew and I left my fundraising role after several years to create some more margin for our family. I dabbled in side-hustling my artwork and freelancing graphic design services and began to (key ominous music) consider a creative career. The pandemic hit, John’s airline gig seemed uncertain, we DIYed our hearts out, started an Airstrem rental business, and I had the opportunity to illustrate a children’s book written by the amazing Alyssa Miller and her daughter Moriah. We added our nephew to our family in 2021 whom I’ve had the privilege of being a full-time PCA for and finalized his adoption this past Spring.

Creative Careers & College Professors

So, creative pursuits have been touch and go over the past several years… but now here I am… on the precipice of “my turn” as we’ve affectionately referred to it.

I’ve assumed that creative careers are not very sequential or “practical” and so it’s not something I have allowed myself to consider until recently. Why is everyone trying to commodify their hobbies? I read online somewhere and it shut me down for a bit. So true, how dare I try to make a career I enjoy! While I could delve into the woes of Capitalism, I have decided that (a) listening to my gremlins is never helpful and (b) I am more concerned with having an occupation that stewards my interests and skills than resorting to what’s practical. A vocation, if you will.

I was able to reconnect this past summer with my all-time favorite Writing professor from college—the GOAT—Matt Ryan. He wrote a recommendation letter for grad school that made me ugly-cry and I was eager to catch up and gain some insight into what a low-residency program would entail. We met for lunch on Lake Street and had the best of times, as one does with Matt Ryan. I shared that I was accepted into the program and I felt some regret, feeling like I wasted time in my career pivoting from one thing to the next that wasn’t writing. He looked at me kindly and said plainly: “You’ve just been marinating, Sara!” And that was the moment I decided to go back to school.

When I withdrew from grad school back in 2014, I assumed that I would eventually go back… but I didn’t expect it would be to start over. I’m learning it’s okay to not finish something if it doesn't align with where you’re trying to go… and sometimes your destination changes along the way. We all make the best choices we can with the resources and information we have at the time. Some chapters have ended for me in this season of life, but new things are beginning.

We may still have to grieve the expectations we had for something in our lives. But there is always something to be grateful for. There is always good if we will notice it.

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November Influences

• A check-in with my Registered Dietician who reminded me to eat more protein! and take my vitamins! and get 8 hours of sleep!

• My friend Corrie telling me about Street Parking workouts for at-home exercise.

• My watch letting me know that I slept (Donald Trump voice): very very badly.

• Visiting the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory with a friend. She shared some excerpts with me from Makoto Fujimura’s book, Culture Care, and my reading list continues to grow. The Twin Cities are so lovely.

Looking Ahead

December is upon on us and here’s what I’m looking forward to:

• Reading Charlotte’s Web, a required read prior to my residency in January.

• Celebrating 13 years of marriage with the aforementioned pilot.

• Watching Home Alone, Elf, Jingle All the Way, Spirited and other favorite Christmas movies with my family.

• Winter Break with my kids & first snowfalls with our puppy.

Thanks for reading and I hope you know that marinating is a-okay.