What All Creative Work *Really* Is

Of course she was dead, but nobody was talking about it.

Instead, Barrett ate quiche and quoted a movie. Colin ran around the yard making what we assumed were fire engine sounds. Lisa commented on her yard and what she’d seen on Facebook. Denise sat quietly in my living room -nodding along and chiming in about the education system as she now sees it through the lens of teaching GED classes.

And I coasted mostly around the edges, occasionally snapping pictures on our Instax.

I like this camera. It captures permanent moments of temporary people.

My grandmother died last December. Later that month, the other side of my family gathered for a Christmas party. My father’s father stood in the middle of the room, taking a picture with his three siblings.

The moment feels like an echo to me now: Laughter ringing from the kitchen as my cousins remembered a story long past; New babies drooling on red wrapping paper to the delight of their mothers; Teenagers texting fresh crushes with sneaky smiles.

It was at this instant I stared at my four aged family members and thought:

“I am going to have to bury them all.”

After having gathered 50,000+ followers, showing up in CNBC and Inc. Magazine, and…