We painted a picture and it was beautiful

Sometime life paints beautiful pictures and you were there to watch.  In fact you're on the canvas

That was the thought I had today watching my wife, Elizabeth and son, Lewis interacting on the beach. Throwing the football, swimming in the water and strolling on the slanted sandy beaches.

Now 23 years old, I have been a witness to the great passions of my child; he was train crazy for a time, then dinosaur crazy. He was so amazed at military history, we spent a heated July at Gettysburg, paid tribute to General Lee's grave and his trusted grey American Saddlebred, Traveler in Lexington Virginia, then over to the tall granite monument honoring the General's right hand, Stonewall Jackson. Probably the most memorable was honoring the fallen on the French beaches of Normandy. I could tell you about the duck hunting obsession or the trout frenzy, but I think you get the point. He is serious about his passions.

Lewis always understood the important things in history and life. Now I have witnessed something that creates art in life. He loves, cares for and enjoyed the presence of his mom. Much like the experience I had at a young age, he has found the value in this wonderful person....his mom.

I love art, especially landscape scenes that have wide views. Vistas that are so large, you see something new every time you look at the piece.  Vistas whose beauty creates visual poetry. That is the art I see in the life of my son and his "mama".

Elizabeth and I tried for years to bring influence into our son's life. Now we are beginning to see his influence in our lives. The art continues to be painted. Colored by love and applied to the canvas with creativity, vision and most important love. 

And then you realize that the painted art is the memories that God gives you; painted in in your minds for all of your life. I love art. But more specifically, I love the the art that is canvased in memories like today.