CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 49: THE SPRING EXHIBITION
The following spring, I had my first small art exhibition.
Nothing fancy.
Just a local gallery.
I almost canceled three times.
My family refused to let me.
The gallery walls were filled with my drawings.
The kitchen.
The lake.
The garden.
A portrait of Ella.
And one final piece.
A painting of our house.
The house that had once nearly destroyed us.
And later, saved us.
People walked around quietly.
Then I noticed my mother.
She was standing in front of the painting.
Crying.
Again.
I walked beside her.
"You really need to stop doing that."
She laughed through her tears.
"I can't help it."
She pointed at the painting.
"You painted it with the lights on."
I looked at the picture.
I had.
Warm light glowed from every window.
"I guess I did."
She smiled.
"That's because it feels like home again."
I looked around.
At my family.
At my work.
At my mother.
"Yeah," I whispered.
"It does."
At the end of the evening, someone asked me:
"What inspired this collection?"
I looked at the painting one last time.
Then I smiled.
"Survival."
But that wasn't entirely true.
It was more than survival.
It was love.
May you like
It was forgiveness.
It was coming home.
