Something for a very special friend

This is a bit more, and by that I mean a LOT more, of a personal post today. Just some things I was thinking about. For instance, why did I start this blog? Where is this new found energy to push through the crap in my life coming from? Why do I feel like it'll ever be worth it?

I owe a lot of who I am to some really important people in my life- my mom, who taught me to go after what I want and not let anyone get in the way, my sisters, who support me all the time, all of my art teachers who have pushed me over the years to really stretch my work and grow as an artist, and the friends who are consistently there for me to just be my friends, and I'm theirs. Another really constant source of love and support would definitely be the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I am quite grateful to be. Living the Gospel has given me a sense of direction, of peace, and comfort. It has given me more strength to overcome things than I never would have been able to on my own. One thing that I've really needed help with was adjusting to the death of a dear friend.

It had happened quite unexpectedly, and for me it was the first time someone that close to me had died. I mean, I had just talked to her a few weeks before. Anyway, it was really hard. While she was still sick in the hospital I went up with some friends to wait with and support her family through this. We spent the whole day up there and it all just felt so unreal. I don't really remember too much about the hospital, I was distracted by my own thoughts, but there was a quote on a photo by Maya Angelou saying:

People will not always remember what you said or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.

And then I got to work sketching out the quote, I worked on it nonstop until I finished it.

I felt it really summed up how I understood things. In the short time I knew her and we became friends, I couldn't recall every joke we ever shared together or every movie we ever watched or every time I did something crazy and made her laugh, but I do remember how very close she was to my heart, how just being around her made me strive to do better, how she exuded virtue and goodness and joy, and how it only ever made me want to be my best self.

Anyway, here is the poster I made on behalf of my great friend.