Stories of Kindness from Around the World

My wife, Jane, and I have been married for 36 years so we have heard each others stories many times. We are both artists so many of our retellings revolve around our challenges in becoming and sustaining our artist selves. Jane has told the story many times of her parents birthday present of an easel for her to do her art work when she was still a child. But it wasn't an artist's easel, rather it was the kind of "easel" used typically to display a poster on foam-core board. Hence, flimsy, and unsuited for artists' work, and undeniably cheap. Jane never used it for her art work but she got the message loud and clear that mom and dad did not support her efforts. For an artist the work you do is intimately connected with who you perceive yourself to be, so the message of non-support went very deep for Jane.

Jane and I each have our own studios in an old farmhouse in Virginia and she had bought herself a plain air easel and set it up in her studio. Though better than a poster-board display easel it was still rather flimsy and unsuited to the larger paintings she wanted to do.

This year for Jane's birthday, her 64th, I bought her the world's greatest easel. The Dick Blick super heavy-duty easel (some assembly required). Though the instructions for assembly were nearly useless we finally got it assembled and installed in her studio. To accommodate it Jane needed to rearrange her studio. Now her studio looks better than ever and the easel makes it look proud!

This was a healing on many levels and makes the light in my heart glow every time I walk down the hall and glance into Jane's new and transformed workspace. My gift to her has been as much a gift to myself, which is, I guess, what we learn through loving kindness to one another.