Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor Colon
Hi Taylor, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hey, Im Tay and I’m a Tinker. My entire life has been a series of events that led me to create, to build, to mend, to fix, to understand, to relate. As a little girl, when I would get asked the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I would answer, “A mom.” I didn’t know it at the time but wanting to be a mom was the first time that I had the innate desire to create. To create a little human. To be able to to build up, to mend, to fix, to understand, to relate to someone other than myself.
To understand my creative life, it is important to start with the people who created me, my Mom and Dad. After many years of trying for a baby, my parents were told that they would never be able to have a baby, but God. After 10 years of trying, it was proven that The Creator of the Universe is the only one who decides what is possible. Not only was I a miracle baby but I was also raised in the church as a PK (preachers kid)… talk about pressure to be great! There is a stigma that comes with us preachers kids and I’m here to tell you that it is one million percent true. We rebel, we question and we test… sorry Mom and Dad! With each decision I have made or path I have chosen, I am only where I am today because of the foundation my parents created for me and for keeping God at the center of it all.
I have taken a little piece from each part of my life and I have been able to create something beautiful- like a Tinker would do.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
To be creative is to be competitive. You have to be driven and disciplined to continuously better yourself and your craft. Am I competitive? Lets just say I’m really good at UNO and you don’t want to be around me if I lose. I am also the proud owner of many BLUE field day ribbons. I may have also received the highest scholarship ever given to an outfielder to play softball at a D1 college. I believe this is where my story gets interesting. From the age of 8-18 I played on a competitive softball team and traveled all around the country playing softball at the highest level. I was known as the little blonde fast girl who would never let a ball hit the grass. The goal of playing competitive sports when you are in high school is to be given the opportunity to play at the college level. When this opportunity came I did not respond in a way that made much sense at the time. I did not want to go. I wanted to go to cosmetology school. It was a constant battle with my parents during the summer before my freshman year but whether I liked it or not I was going because who turns down playing softball at a D1 college? When I look back on my life, the decisions and choices I made my first year in college are the most cringeworthy. I was chaotic and running wild with my choices. Within the chaos was the decision to ignore that high school class lesson that talks about some latex and a banana. That decision came with life changing consequences. If you are looking to be humbled, just be a 19 year old, unwed pastors kid, that gets pregnant while in college on a softball scholarship. Let’s just say that Cersei’s walk of shame in Game of Thrones was one of the most relatable scenes I’ve ever watched.
In hopes to mend the situation, we got married. The same day we got married is the same day I was told, “I want a divorce” for the first time. I would hear it countless amount of times after that, but I was committed. I believed marriage was hard and I was told “you just have to stick with it.” I believed that his actions were not who he really was. I was so committed that I kept everything a secret, not wanting to taint his character. After every curse word, name-call, every shove or hit, I believed it would just get better. I went to counseling to learn how to not trigger him. I never used the word “I” in conversations because that would be selfish. I apologized. I mended and painted the walls and doors he punched. I cleaned up the shards of mirror and glass he shattered. I never interrupted him. I learned to breathe through the moments when he would turn off all of the lights and hold a knife up to my neck or gun to my head and say, “You really don’t trust me do you.” I became numb to hearing how ugly I was or hearing “Why do you look like that?” I laughed when he made mean jokes about me because he was “just joking”. I became small because after all, this was a deserving consequence of my actions… right?
My first experience of true redemption came at the exact same moment as my first creation. Birthing my tiny human and becoming a mom was more than I ever imagined it to be. He brought light to darkness and hope to an unknown future. I have always said that I needed him just as much as he needed me.
I have learned many lessons in life and one of them was that adding more kids to the roster does not fix a marriage. 16 months after my first was born, I welcomed my second. The night before I gave birth to my second son, he admitted that he had been cheating on me. I had already had my speculations but when you are amped up on Baby Momma hormones it’s the last thing you would like to hear. As crazy as I probably now sound, I continued to try and make things work. When you are in the middle of a situation like this, you become pretty numb to what is okay and not okay and what should be tolerated and not tolerated. You also feed off of the tiniest glimpse of kindness and hope that you see. When my second born was just a few months old we decided to follow my parents and make the move down to Florida. The next two years I worked on myself and building a future for my two beautiful boys who gave me all the motivation I could ever need. Their dad made the decision to leave us and move back to another state and our marriage officially ended shortly after.
I fully embraced the single mommy life. I worked 3 jobs. During the day I would clean vacation homes and was a coordinator at Disney and at night I was a bartender at a Pub. There is nothing easy about the single mommy life but the Lord continued to provide and answer our prayers. The connections I had made while cleaning vacation homes led me to eventually get my real estate license and pursue a career in real estate.
The day I met the love of my life has made every single challenge and obstacle I have ever faced all make sense. I would take the same exact path over and over again if it continued to lead me to my husband, Nathanael. I was completely head over heels in love with him from the moment I saw him. When you find your person, life is never the same. I have a new understanding of what love should be and there is not a doubt in my mind that he was made just for me. He has mended and fixed my Tinker heart. He adopted our two boys and we have a total of 4 kids now. Our biggest challenge since being together has been the birth of our youngest. He made an unexpected entrance 3 months early because I had a seizure and the doctors needed to perform an emergency c-section. The baby and I should not be alive today, but by the grace of God, we got to experience a full circle miracle baby moment. It is because of my husbands love and support that I was able to take the leap of faith and dive head first into a creative life.
The path to get here may make no sense, but it is because of everything that I have experienced that has brought me to a place to be a able express my creativity and share all of my pieces through my art.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a Balloon and Party Decor Artist. I specialize in creating custom and unique balloon art and party decor pieces that turn parties into moments. Every single one of my designs are completely unique to each of my clients. I will never make the same design twice. My work is known for its attention to detail and creativity.
I am known for my Custom Backdrops with Balloons and Big Balloon Builds, which means I can build pretty much anything out of balloons.
What I am most proud of is the joy my designs bring to people. Seeing a. clients face light up when they walk into a space transformed by my work makes it all worth it.
What sets me apart is my ability to personalize each piece to fit the clients vision and to also think outside the box and create things that have never been done before. I create art that enhances the experience of an event. Plus, I truly care about my clients and their special moments, which means I go the extra mile to make everything spectacular.
How do you think about luck?
I am not sure if luck exists but I am positive that that everything that has happened to me, the good or bad is all apart of shaping me into who I was created to be. Even when it doesn’t make sense.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tayspartydecor.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/party_with_tay?igsh=MXEwOWhhN256Y2ljMQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tayspartydecor/
Image Credits
Rachael Smith Photography
