The talk turned to our hometown and growing up.
The Bro-In-Law got a thousand yard stare and slipped into an open-eyed REM sleep.
We, the siblings, pressed on.
Sister Here has always been the artistic one of the herd,
definitely a visual medium kinda gal.
We were reminiscing about going to the Art Museum one summer during our college breaks.
We had walked through the quiet marble-floored areas, she in thoughtful observation and me in muttered ridicule and disdain.
I don't appreciate modern art.
I don't understand it.
It looks stupid to me and my point of view.
My artistic knowledge was limited to the 64-color Big Box of Crayolas. WITH the built-in sharpener. And a good coloring book, of course.
We stopped in front of this one painting.
It was a three by five foot canvas painted that yellow-brown color of cat poop.
Really.
And scattered around this defiled canvas were small eggs of sea foam green and cornflower blue.
(See. Told ya I knew my Crayolas)
With disgust, I pointed a judgmental finger at the painting.
"So what is this garbage, Sis?"
Sister Here cocked her head then walked back about 10 feet.
"C'mere."
"Why? It'll look just as stupid back there."
"Shut up and get back here."
She had Mom's inflective command mimicked perfectly. I moved mindlessly from years of training.
"Now, stare at the painting for awhile."
"Now why would I -"
"Stare. NOW."
So we stared. A couple of minutes later, she asks a question.
"Do you see the eggs wiggling?"
"Do I see the - um, yeah, I do."
She explained that the frequency of the colors interacted, blah, blah, blah, and that caused this effect.
Wow.
Never covered that in Coloring Book 101.
They told us to just stay in the lines and don't eat the crayons.
Huh.
I thought that picture was a complete waste of space.
Then, with Sister There's help, I could see it in a whole different light.
And I saw the purpose of the artist.
Yeah, we all have days like that picture.
Tripping over scattered little problems while trying to walk through a cat-poop-colored day.
Then, there He is.
Quietly smiling as He reaches for us.
"C'mere. Stand here with Me for awhile."
"Look at it this way, through My eyes."
"Now. Whaddaya see?"
Ohhhh.
Myyyyyyyy.