My Birthday Gift

This year, my friend Melissa gave me an awesome, thoughtful gift. Thoughtful is her normal, but this one was so timely and planned. She had a cowgirl drawn up, holding my novel, The Reluctant Bandit. It’s supposed to be a caricature me, but she didn’t tell me that until later. The artist has never met me–Melissa just described me. She was so pleased with the outcome.

One day, my oldest, Big Monkey Max, picked up the art I had propped against my books, asking, “What’s this?” He looked at it, then looked at me. “This looks like you!” I had to laugh. I didn’t make the connection, immediately. When I opened the package, I saw a cowgirl holding a book, which was made me laugh. Then I took a closer look at the writing on the book’s cover–OMG! She had this made specially for me! 🤗 Melissa and I look similar, we’ve been asked before if we’re sisters or cousins with our dark, curly hair, and darker skin. We even have similar smiles and sense of humor. So, I didn’t think about it actually representing me–I had no idea. Then I felt a little dim. On the heels of feeling dim, I had a sense of realization. There is many a time when I don’t have the best perception of myself–there are also plenty of other times I’m painfully self-aware. That, however, is another story altogether.

This is more of a shoutout to a young artist and a good friend supporting this artist. The image shown here is the framable art. Melissa had all sorts of other items printed with that image for me and she had some “magic wand” pencils printed. Who doesn’t need a little magic–plus, that was one of my words for last summer. I was a little obsessed with the word and the idea of it. I’m still liking it, a lot. At any rate, my cowgirl looks down at me from my bookshelf, making sure I keep up with my imaginary friends. If you’re interested, check out the artist’s work on instagram Sam Buttrick art. She also has an Etsy shop with a few stickers. Maybe you can get something commissioned, too. Check her out!

(Side note: you can see a different handle on the art itself, she changed her Instagram handle but the name is the same for her Etsy shop.)