Hit the jackpot 😄

I remember once when I was a kid, my dad drew a rose. I don’t remember why, as he certainly didn’t draw as a rule. I just remember looking at that and being amazed. From that day, I would wonder why he kept that gift in the box. I understand that bit better now…I think the greatest challenge of adulthood is not losing touch with those special bits of magic we’re born with. But after mom died, the family goal became finding things to spark joy in dad’s days, give his head something to do other than focusing on the silence in the house. First came the usual suspects, the models and the puzzles. He’s always had an engineer brain, so those 3D puzzles suited him well. His creations are on display. Then came the dart board to get him out of the chair. And the rug and the panel for the wall behind it. 😂 He loves that thing though. It makes him do math, and he feels like that keeps his brain from getting too dusty. Last Christmas, thinking of that rose, I decided it was time to see if he’d open the box. Got him an adjustable easel so he could stand or sit and started with some paint by numbers to bypass the intimidation of a blank page or canvas. It took a month for him to get through the frustration of tiny numbers and odd colors and take the lines as a guide … kind of like how 55 mph is a suggestion. lol He’s done three huge paintings now, all of which are changed to suit his liking. They’re framed and on the wall. He watches Bob Ross and bought his own paints and brushes and experiments with techniques and when we talk on the phone, he speaks of how it changes how you see the world. Lights and shadows and shades and wonder. There is that running leaping childlike joy behind his words that we feel when we’ve found something to be passionate about. Now he buys blank canvases and books and my sister got an original for her birthday this spring. When we spoke last week, he thanked me. 🥹 I think it’s just a beautiful thing to see a gift unwrapped. 💕