September 10, 2022 | Full HARVEST Moon in Pisces | Keila Sachi Gaballo (they/she)
our first pride!
GEEZ... 4 months since the last blog post... which was also a photo dump. This year has been one full of challenges... and lots of growth that's for sure. I had a pretty rough summer, but after looking back, it was one full of many things to celebrate (which I'll get into in the photo dump below.) After two and a half years of staying pretty darn healthy, we all caught COVID in July. Nearly two months later, I'm still recovering. It really sucks, but also, it's made me face some of the realities of my physical and mental health that I've felt ashamed of and tried to hide for so long. July was Disability Pride Month, and I certainly learned a lot about my own disability. I've tried to deny that my own mental health and chronic pain & fatigue struggles with fibromyalgia (as well as many mental health challenges) have been significant enough to even acknowledge, but all it has done over the past 9 years is deny myself the opportunity for some real, supportive community.
We're coming up on one year since I was kicked off the worship team after coming out as bi. The day after Bi Visibility Day! How 'bout that lol. That experience and all the "meetings" (aka shouting matches and debates) with the pastor was enough to be traumatic in itself, but it definitely stirred up plenty of other traumatic memories and experiences I've dealt with throughout my life. I've been learning a lot about trauma in general, but specifically developmental and generational trauma. As sucky as that situation was... it definitely propelled me to create the art that I've created over the past year, and of course the non-profit, Back To You... which brings me to all the things to celebrate from this past summer:
[image description: digital photo collage depicting the highlights of Summer 2022, events described below:
June:
Picture of Keila's design for the new Feelings Wheel!
"JFG pride chalk mural" picture of Keila sitting next to their chalk mural of illustrated Mt. Fuji with a smile, red sun, rainbow paper cranes flying over various pride rainbows. Kanji: Toh-beh meaning to fly
Picture of green grass with tiny white and yellow flowers
"Finished these two huge murals" picture of Keila in front of part of mandala wall mural, and photo of "Defeat Doubt" lettering and maze mural
"1st volleyball camp!" picture of Ellie smiling and holding her volleyball
July:
"Vendor @ Sea Hive!" picture of Keila's hand-painted, hand-lettered wooden sign reading "Mahealani & Back" with signature, and picture of Keila & Ellie wearing face masks standing in front of Keila's Sea Hive vendor space
"Summer at LDI, time to dance"
"Encanto + Moana cardboard murals" picture of giant hand painted cardboard murals for Encanto and Moana themed dance camps
"our 1st pride" picture of Ellie in white shirt & rainbow tutu in front of big inflated rainbow arches
Picture of Keila & Ellie with their pride face paint (Keila- enby+genderfluid flags painted across their cheeks, Ellie- rainbow leopard wearing kitty unicorn headband)
"27! Birthday boy" picture of PJ with birthday hat drawn on him
"COVID-19: urgent care :( " picture of Keila's illustration of herself laying down curled up inside a covid virus bubble, picture of IV drip from urgent care visit
August:
"ended private swim lessons for the summer" picture of goodie bag with custom wooden laser engraved magnet, "just keep swimming" sweedish fish gummies, magic towel, and Keila's business card
"Non-profit website launched!" picture of Keila's iMac with Back To You homepage on the screen: "a diverse, inclusive, & accessible learning community"...
"a new business toy/investment" picture of our new xtool laser cutter/engraver
"My first day of KINDERGARTEN 2022" picture of Ellie smiling and holding a hand-lettered chalkboard sign, wearing school uniform, navy blue polo, beige skort, black socks, and blue sneakers.