Real Talk: Life & My Future (Patreon)

Hi! This post is for everyone and anyone interested in my work and me as an artist but also for anyone interested in supporting my work financiallyMore important than anything, I need to say that your support, as helpful it is, is always your money first and you should always spend it wherever you see fit, please do not feel any pressure to support me and the work we do here ❤️Short Version: After nine years of working on Creambee I genuinely feel it is time I bring up the price of tier support by 95 cents for all tiers. It is hard for me to bring this up because I feel lucky and thankful all the time that I get to do this work and it's all because of your generosity. However I am at a stage in my life now where I should be looking into health insurance and savings, and I also have to consider inflation. After supporting my father's failing health for over three years, selling my apartment to afford his heart surgery and now recently loosing him to pneumonia I don't want to end up like him relying on someone else in my old age, with no insurance, no savings, etc. So after much deliberation and calculation on costs for my future and current needs, as well as the needs of my two part time artists Aika and Mac, an additional 95 cents is the solution. - After this post the new tier prices will only affect those who are not currently signed up.- However in two months I will be raising the price for all current supporters, I do hope you understand and please don't feel any pressure from me, if the cost is too high or makes the experience unpleasant for you, I promise no hard feelings whatsoever ❤️More Personal Lore: Creambee is not just the reason I feel lucky every single day, it is in plain truth my full time job, it's not my hobby and it's not just a creative outlet, it's my source of livelihood, and it is so, thanks to your support.A source of livelihood isn't just about paying bills and putting food on the table but it's also about asking the question, can I plan for my future? Can I consider important things like insurance and savings? Harsh realities do tend to rear their heads sooner or later, and for me that was rushing my Dad to the hospital. He couldn't breath, he almost died right there, we had his lungs drained of almost 66 oz (2 liters) of fluid. That was the beginning of three years of battles with COPD, pneumonia, heart disease, several stays at the intensive care unit, heart surgery, breathing machines and meds on the reg. Eight weeks ago he fell asleep, fell into a coma, and then passed three days later, he always hoped he would eventually pass in his sleep so I'm happy he got that...Dad was an incredibly strong and kind man who gave money away to hungry people, payed for other kids education, cooked food for families in hard times, he literally beat up drunk men who harassed the women who worked in our late night cafe, he was a good man but he never put his money into smart investments, he believed people who called him their friend and offered up "let's get rich" plans and was swindled out of his savings at least five times, and in the end had to rely on me. Ultimately he was teaching me one last lesson; be responsible with money and be smart with your business. Now that I've sacrificed my apartment and savings, I have to be careful and start rebuilding. I am still at an age where I can save and invest in my future, and I am going to do exactly that.Having experienced what I have, it's forced me to consider some sobering facts; most relevant of which is that I state my current worth of 9 years of projects as low as 1 dollar. Another thing to take in to consideration is that truth be told I cannot seem to find any other artists today who provide access to their works for anything less than 3 dollars, so ultimately, I hope that you understand how I feel when I say I'm hoping my collection of works and my promise to continue to make more works is worth an extra 0.95 cents these days ❤️Thank you so much for taking the time to hear me out