Do you have a sanctuary? A place where you find rest? Is it a physical place or a mental place? For me, no matter where I am I have such a place.
When I was growing up we lived just across the street from a really great old estate that was like our private playground. It had been deeded to the city as a public park. The house and gardens at the top of the hill were used as meeting space and for events; but the property leading up to the house was left pretty much undeveloped.
That part of the property includes the brick paved carriage path that begins just across the street from my old house and winds through the woods ending at the mansion and carriage house at the top of the hill. In the middle of the woods there is a small bridge over a ravine where the rainwater would runoff during heavy rains storms. This bridge is my sanctuary. When I was growing up I used to spend a lot of time there playing, reading, sometimes just sitting and thinking.
No matter where I am now, I can seek sanctuary by remembering back to that bridge. The picture in this post is a photograph of a painting of that exact bridge . It was painted by my childhood friend Mark. The painting looks exactly like the bridge of my memory. When I mentioned on his blog that that bridge was my mental sanctuary he offered to send me the painting. He posted the picture to his facebook page so that I could get a preview of what he was sending me.
I am so excited even to think about where I might hang this painting in my house. Now I will have a visual image of a place that I so love. Words can't express how happy this makes me.
Life is so good.
Pax
5 comments:
What a great painting! And to have the personal connection you have to than spot....well, that's incredible.
angelmeg,
This is soo wonderful..in a different way than my earrings because this was and is such a very special place for you! I am so happy for you. Who would have thought? So, let me get this straight, you reconnect with your childhood friend and he has already a painting of this or did he recently go and paint it? Doesn't really matter in the least...this is just wonderful and a beautiful scene at that!
Blessings, my dear! Wow!
He painted the picture a while back, just because he remembered the spot. It was a place where we all used to play when we were growing up. I don't have that kind of creativity to draw the place like he does, but I can describe it exactly. His picture looks exactly like I remember it.
I am planning on taking the girls up to visit my hometown this summer and I will try to take a picture or two so you can see the similarities.
Hello ladies,
I painted it about 15 years ago. I blogged about painting from memory. Meg and I ran into each other on facebook and talked about many of our old haunts. It was wonderful to hear that her and my memories of the place were both accurate and fond.
I am sorry that I have not sent it yet. I have been dealing with a flooding basement for a week now. I'm a little "drained" nyuck, nyuck, nyuck. :)
Mark
believe me, I understand completely about how life can get in the way of even the most well thought out plans. Take your time. My memory will serve me well. The picture is like icing on the cake.
Your basement is much more important right now.
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