My brother has always been an amazing photographer. My parents tried to foster his passion for life on the "negative" side by putting a dark room in the basement of each home we lived in. He worked his way through college at the University of Georgia as their football/sports photographer during the Vince Dooley "reign". He has some amazing photos from those days.
A few years ago he decided to say goodbye to corporate life and finally pursue his passion. He opened up his business where he works directly with photographers to transfer their beautiful artwork to canvas. The resulting images are breathtaking works of art! Go to:
pixel2canvas.com.
Last week, this was the blog I found when I went to his site. I loved it so much I wanted to share his "Heartwork" with you!
Curt wrote:
So, I looked at the calendar this morning. Its May 1. I'm not quite of the ancient variety as of yet, but I'm not as young as most of you spring chickens around here. I recalled how when I was young, my mother would take us around and we would pick wild flowers and put them in little baskets and take them to the neighbors houses. I think we called them May Baskets...Does anyone remember those?As we get older, go through school, find out that the traditions of May Day may be more closely related to that of the communist workers celebrations and most certainly not politically or ecologically correct since we are picking wild flowers and killing them... But I have such vivid recollections of little green construction paper baskets (really just paper folded and stapled with a loop to hang on the door) filled with dandylions and anything that wasn't 100% green that seemed to grow in the area. But...lest I ramble too much...back to the point.
Things are difficult right now, there is no denying it. The tv and radio blare nonstop about how bad things are and how we need to share the pain. Well, I have decided that as of today, I will no longer share pain. I will no longer share doubts about the future, and I will no longer bow my head to the fears that knock on my door. I think we can all look around and realize that while we may not be able to purchase our kids the latest wii game or console, we can share with them the gift of our time with a visit to a local park. We may not be able to afford the big family vacation this year, but we can pitch a tent in the back yard and grill hot dogs over a fire, a hibacci grill...or whatever is available to burn. We can watch the sunset while our kids sit on our laps or next to us, or run circles around us while they giggle till they cry (parent always know that the giggles and laughing are all precursors to the crying...it just works that way).
I am amazed every day how my kids are soaking up the world like a sponge. I see them learning things, feeling things, and asking questions about concepts that they do not understand. Poverty, Death, War...should six year olds know of these things? I then thought back about my own childhood...Russia had the bomb and we were all gonna die any day. Vietnam was a word heard everyday on the news, not just a place mentioned in a text book or a name on a black granite wall. And yet...somehow...I managed to grow up, more or less healthy, and well adjusted. Heck, my mom didn't even use a car seat... ( i will however mention, that I feel my ability to survive my childhood was likely vastly improved by the fact that my father really liked VOLVO's and did not succumb to the purchase of a Pinto).
So, thinking back, my memories of childhood were not those of impending doom from the evil red devil, the nights when we ate Mac and Cheese or Pasta with Margerine and tomato sauce...They were of running around, playing with my friends, making may baskets on May Day, catching baseballs with my buddies, and putting playing cards on my bike tires with clothes pins to make it sound "cool". I remember my first car, my first job, my first date, my first kiss...But why have I forgotten all those other things?
I know now, as a parent, that while all those other terrible things really did exist... The gas lines and energy shortages, the recessions and out of control interest rates, the war in Vietnam and the schism that created in our country, and the evils of Disco and Early 80's punk rock...Well, for the most part, my parents didn't saddle me with the worry...They answered questions and kept my world spinning just fine. They answered questions while we were on the swings at the park, they gave me no cause for alarm while we sat at the dam with a fishing pole, and they cheered my success when I almost made it to home plate in T-ball. They love me and my sister...the way that they knew how... not perfect...not by a long shot...but I tell you what, they didn't allow me to fear when fear was all around.
So today, with flowers bursting through the ground, and sunshine once again warming the earth, I make a commitment to answer the tough questions, but focus on the joys of life. I will not shrink from the difficult situations, but I will also protect my kids from my own uncertainty.
They carry no responsibility for paying the bills or figuring out what to do next. And while their lives are now Bakugan and Mario Brothers as opposed to GI Joe and Cowboys and Indians, I am committed to providing them with the memories that I hope they will look back on with the same warmth and appreciation that I do of my own childhood. In closing, I want to say thank you to all of you who bring joy and excitment into our lives each day. We laugh with you, cry with you, and revel in your triumphs and commiserate in your less than perfect days. We want to say thank you to each of you who are friends as well as customers, and we hope that your today is filled with wild flowers and little green baskets.
CB over and out
I hope you were as blessed by that as I was! Lucky me - He's my brother!
