Big Dreams

For Violet's birthday she received a beautiful book titled "Me...Jane".  Have you heard of this book?  It's a gorgeous children's book about Jane Goodall as a little girl, and how much she loved animals and the outdoors from an early early age.  She goes to sleep at the end of the story, and dreams of helping the animals in Africa, and then wakes up one day to "find that her dream had come true".   The last page shows a photo of her, all grown up, with a chimp, living her childhood dream.  

Every time I read this book to Violet a part of me swells with tears/happiness/hope.  As a parent, you want so much for your child to grow up and live out their dreams.  Not only that, but you want them to do it with ease.  

Violet turned to Tyler the other night after reading this story and said "daddy, I want to help giraffes when I grow up".  When I put her down to sleep in her bed, she looked up at me with those huge brown puddle eyes and said "I am going to dream of painting with my new paints".  

These big-little childhood dreams, I want them to stay in her head as long as she can manage to hold them there.  It's so easy to let a dream fly away as the reality of life sets in through the years.  

Somehow I've lucked out-- and managed to make my dream of being a working artist play a permanent role in my life, although it hasn't been easy, and recently I've taken a hard fall; pushed down by a big bully.  It's difficult to navigate your childhood dream through an adult world littered with banana-peel companies, who will eagerly slip you up, and exploit your talents, just for a few bucks.

  

I wonder if Jane, all grown up, and working with the Chimps, ever wished she had taken a more simple route through life.  Worked as a checker in the corner store, instead of climbing the trees of Africa to look at Monkeys.  

I'm sure she had her low moments when her dreams were shoved in her face by external forces, but that never seemed to stop her from returning to doing what she knew she was put on earth to do.  

Huh.  

Anyway, enough about Jane Goodall.  

But in light of a few professional weeds I've had to pull recently, I thought I would share with you today some of Violet's latest artwork.  These are pieces that have for one reason or another just been completely inspiring/humorous/meaningful to me not just as her mother, but as her working mother.  

Enjoy!  

Testing out every single color in her new paint set with little test strokes.  

A mommy (large grey circle) holding a baby (small grey circle in the middle of mommy's face), and a green daddy in the rain.

A Giraffe.

A mommy with socks and earrings (this picture was made for daddy).

 Thank you cards.  She is dedicated to writing these herself (that's why it is taking us so long to send out birthday thank you notes, if you are waiting for one :) It's incredible to watch her dedicated little hand form the letters of the alphabet.  The top one (blue) is one of the first ones she wrote.  The lower one (red) is one of the last ones.  Amazing.