Raining Stars

I have been following the work of Heather Smith Jones since I saw her art. I'm drawn to her use of color, different techniques, gorgeous transparency and opacity in her watercolors, and the words and phrases she uses. There was one piece that I especially loved, and when I finally convinced myself to buy it as a thirtieth birthday present to myself, it had already been snatched up. Rightly so, but I was very disappointed.

Well, what I got was even better! She did a small piece for me that contained certain elements similar to the first piece. I did not want her to feel confined to recreate something. I told her what I really liked about the other piece, but told her I would love whatever she created for me and to use her artistic license.

This is what she made for me.



When I read the title on the piece, it says, "It was raining stars that night, yet one shone the brightest." I was really touched when I saw that. You see, my Dad had a star named in memory of my brother, Andrew. So unknown to Heather, sometimes we think of Andrew as our star in the sky, since he always wanted to go to space!



My dad gave the star chart to me, and Mike reframed it to include a favorite photo of my brother and me. I showed my friends the new art and the star chart. I had forgotten, but there's a red circle highlighting Andrew's star.



My friend Vic had to point this out, but we realized that my new piece also had a red circle highlighting the "brightest star" in the title.



Some may think that these things are just coincidences, and you can find a correlation between anything. In fact, I sometimes think that. But I also know that if I want to feel comforted that these little coincidences mean something, I'm allowed.

When I don't know what I believe, it's those random little things that give me hope for a place I can't even imagine, hugging my brother again, or just the unlimited options for the unknown. At the very least, I think of those little things as Andrew telling me that he is okay. Or that he can still see the huge history that happened yesterday, and oh, would he have been celebrating!

So thank you to Heather, for bringing me unexpected additonal joy on my thirtieth birthday. If you want your own piece of magic, you can visit the shop for Heather Smith Jones here!