Happy Birthday Dear Rebecca, Happy Birthday To You

There is one thing that my friend Lucky and I have both been really Lucky (sorry Lucky) about: each having one daughter. I have a life with so much to be grateful for that if I started to make a list, I couldn't finish it. Each time I would think I was done another item would pop into my head. So because my only child, my only little girl, who is more precious to me than I could also ever really share, is35 years old today, this entry is about her.

I warned her this might happen and she ever so kindly told me it would be OK, even that I didn't have to send my intended thoughts to her for being checked out first. She did though, try again to show me where to put those bloody parenthesis that show ownership or contractions. I pretend they're typos. Rebecca helps me with that sort of thing. Writing. When someones' birthday is about to be coming along. Stuff that normally a mom would remind a kid.

Rebecca took over that job when she was about 8. In a serious way. What can I say? She was very protective of me, smarter, more conservative, and had more common sense than any ten adults I knew. And I was very very protective of her, and the Lord made me strong and smarter than a fox when it came to taking care of my little girl.

Rebecca Rebecca, what can I say.... 35 years old, and in every one of them, i can only watch you grow more mature and gentle and sweet and dear and good and kind and loving and strong and all the more than that.... could your daughters be teaching you and opening up your heart as you did to me? It is a beautiful process, what our children give us.

You have given me confidence, maturity, a few white hairs, none to speak of. You've given me so much to be proud of, and I admire all of your achievements. You are so modest, you don't let me gush often, so now on your birthday, I am taking advantage of the ocassion to tell the world how special you are.

Your birthday is my gift. For the first of your gifts this year, please accept this portrait of yourself, wearing puffy slippers. These are kitty slippers and I couldn't find a real pair to buy for you anywhere to go with the painting. Too bad, but that was the original idea.

I love you forever, and think you have been my daughter for at least 35 lifetimes to have evolved into such a high level paragon of daughterhood. Thank you for being all that you are. I bless the day you were born, and thank heavens for our family.

Resting Woman With Puppy Slippers; A Self-Portrait

Painting with my computer has become a way of life for me. I feel incomplete unless I have worked on some art during the day. It is my job, my artists' job. I love this medium because I am finding it sort of easy to learn. I need 'easy'. It allows me to create without twisting my brain around too much. Here's my dilemna. Artists supposedly 'draw' on the right side of the brain. The dumb side, which cannot add 2 and 2, and come up with 4.

I type atrociously and spell check for Blogger does Not work for Macs, which leaves me up the creek.

I need good left brain skills to balance my check book, pay my bills, remember where my car is, etc. But my checkbook hasn't balanced in years. My car is in the garage, but the opener is quite broken, and so some leverage is required to open that heavy door. We cannot afford to have the electician come here to fix the thing, nor the water, nor the bunch of little electric problems in the house. One thing I will do for sure is get my sunglasses. No UV danger for me.

But I already had to buy two pair of glasses, one for seeing the world and one for seeing the computer. How is that? It is really excellent, to tell the truth, for the first time in my life I feel like I actually saw the monitor.

In case you are sick of reading the wanderings of my mind - figuring out the eye glasses issue, and how it relates to my art, imagine how long I have been thinking about it???!!! It has been hell, believe me. Can't forget about that UV protection, or getting squinty lines all over my face....

Hey, my next self-portrait must be wearing glasses...