My first newsletter!

Hello friends, and welcome to the very first WoodSolStone newsletter.

I’ve been meaning to write this for a while now, but July felt like the perfect time to finally sit down and share a little more of the why behind what I do.

WoodSolStone began in the most unexpected, organic way. I made my very first moss piece for our home..not thinking much of it, just playing, creating and following that little tug inside. Someone saw it and asked me, “Where did you get that?” When I told her I made it, she asked me to make her one too. So I did. Then someone else asked for one. So I made another. And another. And… here we are, four years later.

It’s been such a natural unfolding. No business plan. No grand launch. Just one “yes” after another, and each one bringing me closer to this life that feels just right for me. I never take for granted how this business found me- in a way that honors the way I like to live, work, and create. And I’ll never stop being grateful for how it came to be mine.

But if I’m being really honest, there’s a deeper reason I pour my soul into this work.

Art found me in the depths of grief. In 2018 we lost our sweet son, Woody, when he was just three years old. That sentence alone is impossible to write, even now. He was… magic. The brightest little light.. That curly red hair…so tightly wound, you could slide your whole finger through each ringlet. I used to do that. Over and over. I still can feel the softness of those curls in my memory.

He was my twin in so many ways. His life was both beautiful and traumatic, and losing him cracked me wide open. I carry the weight of that loss every single day. And while I know in my bones that he’s with me- in quiet, magical, often unexplainable ways…he also feels so far away. I know I’ll hold him again someday. But until then… I live. I keep going. Because love like that doesn’t die. It just changes shape. Grief, after all, is only love with nowhere to go…

The name WoodSolStone holds the names of all four of our babies: Woody James, Bash Wood, Gabriel Sol, and Indie Stone. It’s a love letter to each of them. A whispered prayer. A grounding place. I cherish this name more than I can say, and over time, I’ll share more about each of our children, including our sweet Gabriel.

We’ve endured a lot. More than most people know. More than I really understand sometimes. And yet..here we are. Creating beauty. Finding meaning. Saying yes to life anyway.

This art..this work…it’s not just “look what I made!” It’s sacred. It’s a fire that lives in me. A fire he gave me. I could go deep into the spiritual side of all this (and maybe I will in future newsletters), but for now, just know that this is not just art to me. It’s how I connect. How I breathe. How I feel. It’s how I talk to Woody. It’s how I still mother him.

WoodSolStone officially began in July 2021, but the seeds were planted long before that. July holds a lot in our family. It’s the birth month of both Woody and our daughter Indie. It’s a month heavy with emotion..birthdays, anniversaries, endings, beginnings. It’s the month we left our very first home..the one my husband and I bought together. The home where we brought Woody home… where Bash was born… where we lived so many “firsts.”

You only get those once, you know? The firsts. The memories, the milestones, the walls you painted, the laughter in the kitchen, the heartbreak in the hallway. That house held so much of us. I still drive by it sometimes. And when I do, I let the memories rush over me..some light, some unbearably heavy…but all full of immense love.

When we moved into our new home that July, I fell in love with this odd little room off the back of the house. We joked- maybe I’ll make it a salon! (I’ve been a hairstylist for 20 years now.) And wouldn’t you know… one year later, that room became my art studio. My little sacred space. The place where I let nature, grief, love, and inspiration move through my hands. And so much great music and dancing…

Woody, buddy…thank you. For guiding me. For answering my prayers. For always picking up when I call. I see you in the moss, in the wood, in the sunshine, in the silence. You gave me this path. And because of you, I keep walking it.

WoodSolStone is how I cope, how I create, and how I stay connected to all that I love and miss and hope for.

Thank you for being here and reading a bit of my heart. These newsletters won’t always be this heavy…but it felt important to start at the beginning. And the beginning, for me, starts and ends with love.

July, you complicated month. You’re joyful and heartbreaking. You hold it all. And somehow, you keep showing me what it means to begin again.

Until next time,

With love,

Abby

WoodSolStone