Nancy’s Story

No one is truly gone as the ripples they made in this world continue on forever.

It is universal…we will all lose someone we love. And this year — the year of the pandemic — has been no exception. If anything, this past year has amplified our losses even more. Yes, the grief and loss are left behind; but also so are the gifts our loved ones leave behind. The lessons learned that will never leave you. The memories and the love that will linger.

Those gifts are what I want to focus on.

In this midst of this past year, during a pandemic, I was determined to get my personal passion project completed: I was going to print a set of black and white photographs of Ireland. The negatives were taken by my late husband on our last trip to Ireland. But he never got to print them.

I love these black and white photos because first they are from Barry Hendrickson, my husband. They hold great meaning to me because I’m passionate about honoring my Irish heritage, and these images relay that lifelong love of Ireland. They show the haunting beauty of Ireland with its rich and tragic past.  It parallels my own past with universal themes of love, loss and legacy.

It’s been quite a journey…So let’s back up a bit.

Barry Hendrickson was a handsome, energetic commercial photographer when I met him. We were together over 13 years. We ended up working side-by-side on a fine art photo business focused on Ireland — the land of our ancestors. We were married and had a daughter. She was one and a half years old when Barry was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This led to a tumultuous time of working, traveling and selling photos nationwide, interspersed with ailments, cancer treatments and doctors appointments.

After three years and four months, Barry succumbed to cancer.

Our fine art photography business selling Irish landscapes was booming, and here I was, a widow with a 4 year old daughter. “Ireland in Black & White” was our livelihood and main source of income. It was too difficult emotionally and physically for me alone to do all the traveling and work by myself. I had to pivot and figure something new. So I looked back to my graphic design skills and became a web designer. My graphic and web design business has sustained my daughter and me.

But the images from our last trip to Ireland were never made — Barry was too sick, and life too chaotic for those last three years. These images, those pieces — parts of the land of our ancestors, taken by Barry, stayed with me. I wanted those prints brought to life.

So eight years after his death, I started this passion project. I was going to print black and white images from our last trip to Ireland together. I had learned the process of black and white printing while Barry and I worked together.

I love working through the print process to create emotion and depth. I personally print each carbon pigment print with the utmost attention to detail and drama. It’s a gift to be able to print from Barry’s photo archives. It’s a release and joy for me.

They bring my connection to my Irish heritage—snd Barry—to life.

I am learning to share my widow’s journey. At times, I find myself hiding from a monumental grief, because sharing my story can make others uncomfortable. But I’ve found the courage to show others that my grief is part of who I am. It is just me and my story. Because this is love, and what love and loss looks like.

Back to 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, I completed ten black and white prints and labeled them the “Legacy Series.” It seems fitting because I am inspired by the love of my ancestral homeland, and the love for my late husband and photographer, Barry Hendrickson. These emotive Irish landscape photographs reflect universal themes of love, loss, family and the legacy that is left behind.

My plans for an in-person show were canceled due to the pandemic. So I did a release of the fine art photos on my Hendrickson Fine Art Photography website. I shared this with my friends, fans and collectors through email and social media. I received great feedback and response, and some sales as well. It was a bittersweet accomplishment.

Rest in peace ~

In loving memory of all who have gone before.

Including my dear husband, my father and all of my ancestors.

Reach out to me. I’d love to hear if you have a moving story from someone you lost. How you continue to honor and remember them.  Perhaps you enjoy black and white photography or have an interested in Ireland. I’d love to connect.
– Nancy W Hendrickson

Nancy’s Bio 

Nancy loves to integrate art into her life and business. Her passion for Ireland started at a young age. For over 17 years, the “Ireland in Black & White’” series by Hendrickson Fine Art Photo has been displayed and sold in more than 100 exhibitions in over 39 cities nationwide. Nancy developed photo printing skills while working with her late husband and photographer, Barry Hendrickson. She honors her late husband by printing the “Legacy” series of fine art photos. She is also a graphic and web designer that focuses on helping small businesses with their design needs. Her latest art involves layering photos and paint to create something new – a symbol of life after loss.

Connect with me: 

See my Legacy Series by Hendrickson Fine Art Photo at:

https://irelandinblackandwhite.com/
by Hendrickson Fine Art Photography

Or find me in the Athena Village

Other ways to connect:

• Hendrickson Fine Art Photography
  
• Instagram: @irelandinblackandwhite 
• Facebook:  IrelandBW
• Linkedin:linkedin.com/in/nwhendrickson/
• Wojack Hendrickson Design –  wojackdesign.com

Watch My Story! [6:49]

I teach people how to get that 3-dimensional nature experience onto a 2-D page.  Enjoy!  [4:52]

More About Melinda

Melinda Nakagawa, M.Sc., is a biologist, naturalist, and educator with a passion and skill for connecting people to nature. She founded Spark in Nature to guide participants to cultivate a deeper relationship with the natural world, slowing down to nature’s pace and seeing rather than just looking at the world.

With an approach that bridges nature, art and heart, she welcomes all people regardless of their skill level or background. Through her guidance, hundreds of participants have awakened their spark of curiosity, sense of wonder, and connection to the natural world.

Connect with Melinda

• My website: SparkinNature.com
• Sunday Sessions – Free Nature Journaling Classes
• Instagram: @sparkinnature
• Facebook: SparkInNature
• Email: sparkinNature@gmail.com
• Teaching at the 2021 Wild Wonder Nature Journaling Conference (June 23-27, online)

Here is a video of Family Friend covering “I’m There Too” by Michelle Featherstone…Let’s walk our path in community!!!

Click above to listen to Virginia’s story in her own words, in her own voice.

Timestamps for the “highlights”  below so you can “cut to the chase”…for busy people. (Aren’t we all?)  [Full Transcript available in the Village for those who like to read along.]

0:40 – Nervous Breakdown – “My body just started to cry”

2:03 – Leaving my job and moving to California – “How to find purpose?”

2:40 – Unexpected pregnancy – “Surprise!”

3:10 – Almost died in childbirth – “PTSD!”

3:24 – Moved to Japan to save a relationship – #Fail

3:50 – Deep depression and loneliness – “Dark times”

4:10 – Return to the US – “May not be able to survive this experience”

4:23 – COVID!!!! – “Am I prepared for this challenge?”

5:20 – I cannot single-parent in a pandemic

5:40 – HELP!!! – Reaching out (lots of emails)

5:55 – “Any friend of mine shouldn’t be alone during this time”

6:23 – Opportunity in Utah – Safety and Reevaluation of LIFE

7:00 – “How build something that’s long-term-sustainable?”

7:40 – Entrepreneur!!!! – Be my own BOSS and call the shots? #scary

8:00 – Searching for Community – “Who is inspiring to me?”

8:22 – Women’s Business Accelerator (Shout-out to Ash Robinson!!!)

8:26 – Stanford University CCARE’s Applied Compassion Training

8:40 – Building a future with a sense of purpose and FUN!

9:45 – The process of defining (myself), refining (my path), experimenting (with and reclaiming my own value)

10:15 – Reciprocal relationships with people who love and value me

10:40 – Rebooting – Making the best use of the resources I have right now

11:20 – Getting still and quiet

11:30 – Trusting my intuition and serendipity – “That will baby-step me down a pathway to a better life-experience than I’ve been having…for a very long time.”

12:50 – How to connect with me? (Patreon – Virginia Wilcox)

13:05 – Burnt out? Need to reinvent your relationship to your work? Illuminate 2021

13:40 – Women who are looking to create better balance between the inner and outer worlds of your business-building

15:04 – Resting when rest is needed – Attuning to the body’s needs

16:05 – Grab your journal!!! Set your New Moon Intention. Activity!!!

19:35 – Cameo appearance from my toddler!!!! 

20:50 – Welcoming Magic and Serendipity – The incredible value of this process

21:30 – Gratitude (and giant thank you to Mike Kimlicko for audio mix assistance & Kelly + joy for this opportunity to share and be witnessed)

More about Virginia

I’m looking for women who want to grow their businesses and attract clients they LOVE to work with. The medium I love is AUDIO. The VOICE that the world needs is YOURS. When you speak from the HEART you attract the humans that you are HERE on this planet to serve. Listening is the revolution. Compassion is the way. Let’s de-stigmatize LEADING FROM THE HEART in business. I don’t know about you, but I make my BEST DECISIONS when my heart is in the driver’s seat. The mind will always make sense of it …later. When the mind quiets down and the heart speaks…THAT’s worth listening to. Let’s talk.

LISTEN TO THE HEART OF MY WORK HERE. (One minute listen.)

Where to Find Virginia

• In the Village
• My website: Patreon.com/VirginiaWilcox
• Illuminate 2021: illuminate-2021 

***Activity !!! Grab your journal !!!***

Grab your journal for new moon activity at the end of recording and/or JOIN ME LIVE ON ZOOM on May 11 to set your new moon intention in community, offering a fee guided self-reflection experience lead by Kerri Van Kirk and Virginia Wilcox (me).

• When: May 11, 2021 07:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
• Register in advance for this meeting:

Skip to…16:05 to 21:30 in the recording

[2:54]

Mojo + Music

Nancy’s Toolbox

I have what I call my “toolbox,” so to speak, of what I do to maintain peace, my calm, my health. It’s come together come over the years.  One day our Hospital president asked me if I would speak to a group of 200 managers, and directors and vice presidents about how I maintain calm; sharing what I call my “toolbox.”

When our President asked me to share this, I was very grateful, it felt very, very good.  Scared to death! But very good!

My toolbox has always contained a multitude of things. It’s come with the flow that has been my life.  I’ll be a recruiter. Now I’ll be a manager, I’ll be a director; I don’t really want to be a director anymore. I think I’ll be a generalist; and I’ve had all those opportunities.  I’ve been lucky that people have let me have those, you know, kind of assisted me and having those opportunities. These things in my toolbox have helped me make the decisions and maintain my calm and peace throughout. [watch Pressure is Lifted | Career Choices}

And it all started at 16 trying to find that peace in my life.

In the last few years I realized, I thought, “Whoa, I’m there. I’ve reached it.”

And, you know whether I’ve reached self-actualization on Maslow’s hierarchy, I don’t know.

But that’s kind of what it feels like. I certainly have my days when I am stressed when I am anxious. It’s changed in the last, I don’t know, five or six years.

My Toolbox

Acupuncture

Years ago a therapist recommended an acupuncturist. She was pregnant at the time and her son is 16 years old. So I’ve been having acupuncture for 16 years that every two or three weeks.  Acupuncture levels up your meridians, your chakras and balances them..

Therapy

I’ve gone to therapy when I’ve needed it. That has been an important thing to do.

Movement

Exercise has always been kind of near and dear to my heart: weights yoga, running then moved to walking At 63 yoga is really important to me and really balances my day – I do yoga in the morning.

But I also lift weights and, and walk every day, no matter what the temperature is. So my husband and I get all fixed up and we go.

Learning.

It’s been self-help books. Continuing to learn and seek new ideas.

Spirituality.

And it’s been Spirituality – Kelly moving back to Minneapolis and saying, “I’m going to go back to Unity” A spirituality center focused on really looking through intention and having intention for being a positive person and all that positivity brings into your life. And so I went back to Unity. And that made a huge difference.

Community.

I have a group of women that I’m close to. We meet regularly and that helps. I have several different groups of women that I meet with, but particularly one group, through Unity that I’ve connected with Kelly is a part of that. And I it makes a huge difference in my life. [watch Reclaiming My Mojo]