Starting Over, Starting Here:

“Grow Where You Are Planted”

That’s it. That’s the post.

Just Kidding! You know I have a lot to say about a lot of things.

They say home is where the heart is—but what happens when your heart has lived in a dozen places? What happens when you’ve had to begin again, again and again?

For me, that’s where this mural was born.

Grow Where You Are Planted started as a quiet mantra during hard seasons. Now, it’s 60 square feet of paint, purpose, and love on a wall tucked behind Arcadia Lofts @ Mayfair Arts Studio on Spartanburg’s West Side—a place rich with untold stories and unrealized potential.

As I paint, neighbors walk by slowly. Some wave. A couple stop and ask what it’s about. One woman said, “I needed to see this today.” That alone makes it worth it.

This isn’t just about art. It’s about legacy. It’s about visibility. It’s about planting something beautiful in a place where we’ve often only been expected to survive.

I’ve thought about my mother, my grandmother, my daughter. About the Black women who carry so much and are still expected to bloom without being watered. This is for us.

But it’s also for all of us—everyone who’s ever felt uprooted, forgotten, or like they didn’t belong. You do. You can grow here. Right here. Just as you are.

I hope this mural makes you stop. I hope it makes you breathe. And more than anything, I hope it reminds you that beauty is always possible—especially in the soil we’ve been given.