As we get older, we tend to want to relax, reap the rewards from a life spent raising children and contributing to society through our careers. It’s only natural to be ready to exhale, perhaps our first since adulthood became our own, no longer belonging just to our parents. There will always be stress, obligations, and depending on your nature, the inability to to just stop. But even those people – okay, okay, US people – feel a shift in our existence as the years pass.
Life is not over until the good Lord says so, but before that, it’s done when we choose to end the game, take our ball and go home. There is absolutely nothing wrong with spending your days on the golf course or reading, at a certain point it is not only your prerogative but your right. Until your last breath, though, who knows what you can do, on your terms, on your own time, which until now, there never was enough of.
Deciding to take this website and my writing from a hobby to a business in my 50’s, there was a moment’s pause about my date of birth. Thankfully, there were greater causes for hesitation than the number of candles on my birthday cake. Money, time, commitment in general all seemed more daunting components, yet here I am, fifteen weeks into publishing my stories.
My mother-in-law’s cousin, Cindy, along with her husband, Moe, Mister Rain and I have gotten close since his mom’s death five years ago. We meet for breakfast, have each other over for dinner. On one such evening at our house, they arrived with a package. Presenting it to us, I opened it, revealing the paining you see at the top of this post. That’s right, that’s not a photograph. Cindy’s sister, Linda, had taken up painting a few years before, around the age of 60. She was looking for material to practice, so Cindy sent her a picture of Piper hanging upside down from my finger (below). Linda took that image and created this beautiful portrait of Piper. We were stunned.
In addition to this extraordinary work of art, Linda had also framed it. We immediately made room for it on one of our living room walls. I am so happy that Linda picked up a brush. We will have this incredible likeness of Piper for the rest of our lives. She not only captured his coloring and his feather patterns, his personality, despite never having met him, is abundantly clear.
Linda is extremely humble about her talent. If I had her ability I would not be so modest. She considers herself a novice, but I have no doubt that the artist has lived within her forever. You don’t get this good right out of the gate without an innate gift.
Keep your ball with you and play on. Games aren’t won in the first half, are they?
#sisterrain #alittlesightalotofheart #birdmom #adoptdontshop #parrotsofinstagram #conure #ahelpingwingparrotrescue #aportraitofpiperbylind
