Honoring Those Who Served

My daughter is an experienced artist who created a profound piece of art honoring those who have served. We watched this piece transform us as she created it in our garage and as our family was walking through the effects of war. It was almost too much to digest, yet a profound gift to all of us. The eyes expressed everything.

A couple years later Cassandra sat with her piece at an art competition called ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Michigan for three weeks. The back of the art piece displayed letters written by soldiers walking out the healing process after experiencing such atrocities. One of those letters I wrote as a spouse who experienced all of those atrocities from a different vantage point. Cassandra listened to and felt the pain of so many others who shared their stories after connecting with ours.  Her gift of art provided a bridge to the pain that is hard to express.  Her piece ranked in the top 25 of about 1300 artists for the competition. It was somehow healing to feel our pain begin to touch others.

This year I decided to sit in front of her art piece for Patriot Day in Rocklin, CA. Others also sat in front of her art piece to say “Thank You” on video to those who have sacrificed. I heard many heart-wrenching stories that will always stay with me and it filled my heart with joy to use both of our crafts to express a simple “Thank You”. We had taken one more step toward our pain and healing through art.