Thresholds

There's a threshold that you face each and every day; and you never know what may cause you to cross it.  Some days it doesn't take much. Some days it's a 'Like' on your Facebook page, or a song or a dream.  Yesterday it was a classmates of Ian's helping me at the bank.  I remembered him and he remembered Ian. I walked away without a tear but as I left, I was overwhelmed by the need to cradle this young mans face in my hands (I didn't of course, that would have been weird) but I wanted to.  As if, touching his face, would be like touching Ian's; something, anything to be close to him again.  I think of what Ian would be doing now - he'd be finishing his last year of college.  It would have either mellowed him or made him more obnoxious; we'll never know which.  When does this "missing him so much it hurts" phase get easier?

I know there will be folks, possibly reading this, who would tell me I just need to trust God. I trust in the knowledge that God has some huge master plan I can't see but that doesn't make me miss Ian less.

Another year and another Student Art Show at Allan Hancock College.  I went yesterday to see what these new artists had produced.  I was pleasantly surprised to see two pieces from a friend of Ian's but my biggest surprise was seeing artwork produced by students using the Cintiq drawing system we had donated to the college after Ian died.  I was floored by the quality and diversity of the work and there was a LOT of digital art work.  The pieces that spoke to me the most though, were the hand drawings.  I hope we don't get to the place as a society that doing the work by hand becomes second best; that we exalt the work done with the aid of a computer above the work drawn by hand.  There is skill involved in both but hand drawing will always touch my heart in a special way; probably because it was Ian's way of expressing himself.

This got me thinking of when Ian received his Cintiq and I found this video.  Ian doesn't say much, he's busy experimenting.  He was engrossed and I'm sure he would have rather we not be there to distract him but we just wanted to share this with him; we knew the end was coming.  What could he have done with this if he'd had the chance????

If you get a chance, stop by the Ann Foxworthy Gallery on the Hancock campus and see what other students have created, it'll be worth your time.....because art lives on.