TAMSART BLOG
My Journey as a Mother! May 13, 2025
Welcome back! I’m supposed to be continuing the story of my childhood pink walls, how I started as a young artist, and the colorful road that brought me here. I promise we’ll get back to that story next time. But with Mother’s Day here, I felt led to share something even closer to my heart—my journey as a mom, and the story of my daughter, Corissa.
Corissa was conceived out of wedlock in 1983, while my father was a pastor of a large church. All I wanted in life was to be a mother. I dreamed of marriage and raising children. Corissa came a little earlier than I planned—and not in the “right order” according to many. But truthfully, she came exactly on time. A beautiful surprise. The most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
I was only 19 years old when I had her. Yes—nineteen. I was single, unprepared, and honestly, not following the plan I had set for myself. But God clearly had a better one.
I found out I was pregnant while touring with a Christian choir ministry, preparing to travel the country. I had just made it into the top choir of the university, and everything was lined up for a big opportunity—except I wouldn’t be going. They would tour without me.
My parents were not okay with the news. That’s a longer story for another time. But today, I want to focus on this:
As Corissa grew up, I raised her the only way I knew how—the same way I was raised. After all, I was still learning to be a grown-up myself. I spent every waking moment with Corissa. But I made mistakes. I was over-strict. Over-Christian. And sometimes, just… over the top.
When Corissa got to college, things changed. She was growing into her own identity, becoming the beautiful woman she was always meant to be. We started to butt heads. She asked for space, moved out, and started building her own life. That request shook me. It felt like part of my heart had been torn out. But I knew I needed to honor her space.
Corissa began recognizing what she wanted to do differently from me. She faced her own struggles, especially in relationships. And I couldn’t help her much in that area—I was still figuring it out myself. We had hard seasons. We went to counseling. There were tears. I asked for forgiveness. And you know what? She forgave me.
Today, we work together. We create together. We laugh and goof off together. We spend time with my grandkids—her and Nathan’s babies—and we’re stronger because we chose to work at our relationship.
It hasn’t always been easy. But we made a choice: to be honest, to communicate clearly, to give each other grace, and to keep loving forward. I’m so proud of her. Corissa Jade is a star. And so is my son, Tye. And my son-in-love, Nathan. I thank God daily for the gift of being their mother—and now, for the gift of doing life with them.
To every mom or daughter out there reading this: you’re doing better than you think. Keep going. Keep loving. Keep giving grace.
Happy Mother’s Day.
– Tam
My Journey as an Artist, Part 1! April 29, 2025
Hello Creative Ones!
I had the honor of welcoming you to my first blog entry back in April. Thank you for your great feedback! I love that you loved it. Excited to keep this going!
(Warning: ADHD does strike now and then so it may show up in my writing.)
Today, I will begin to share with you how I started as a young artist.
I was only 4 or 5 years old when I watched my brother, Tim, pencil draw on the floor in our living room. (He didn’t actually draw on our floors, he had a pad of paper to go with that pencil.) He was two years older than I was (and still is - funny how that works) and he loved to draw animals. I think part of me wanted to connect with him but I also wanted to copy everything he did. I began to get quite good at drawing monkeys, horses and armadillos!
That led to me doing extremely well in art in school. I loved the art classes and thrived! Other kids would gather around me to watch me draw!!!! I was not a straight A student in school but I got A’s in art, P.E. and music. I could draw while holding a mic and dance around the living room pretty dang well.
After I finished elementary school, middle school was rough. I had no idea what was wrong with me but I noticed I was different from other kids. I was a tomboy. I wanted to dress a certain way, mostly like Marsha Brady with wide-legged plaid pants and I wanted to just draw, dance and listen to music. Nothing else. I basically survived.
We were not allowed to listen to anything but Christian music in my home, but I snuck in all the other music and hid it under my bed. All of my cassette tapes fit nicely in a box that I labelled “DO NOT OPEN.” (Genius label I know.) At night, when I was supposed to be sleeping, I would open up the box. And I would listen quietly to all of the bad stuff like Bad English, Journey, Styx and Van Halen. 80's Rocks!
Art was stuck on me and I on it! My room had a bed that swung from the ceiling and I painted a HUGE rainbow on my pink wall. I thought I was cool. I guess I was not. My parents just could not understand why I did not keep my room neat. So they would pile everything I owned that I left out on my floor and stuff it into my bed and cover it with my blanket. I think they hoped I would put everything away but I just scooted it over and fell asleep with it all. Little did they know that their creative ways of parenting was molding me into who I am….and it gave me a love for snuggling. Get it? I had many things to snuggle with in my bed.
Stay tuned for the next Tam’s Corner as we look deeper into those pink walls.
With Love & Gratitude,
Tam
The Very First Entry! April 15, 2025
I am so honored that you are here reading my Blog! I will be writing many messages covering things like, ‘Why art? What does art do for me? What has art done for me in the past? How can you get the most out of your creative process and how I healed”, yes I said HEALED, with God’s gift of ART.
Today, I want to say that I love having you here. That is it. You are more than important in my journey and I want you to be whole. What do I mean by whole? I mean complete, using all you have, being all you can be, striving for the very best.
Let’s walk together as we begin to talk about personal journeys in life using our creative abilities.
With Love & Gratitude,
Tam