A few weeks ago, someone took my You Are Beautiful sign from our front yard and I remember hoping it had found a good home and vaguely planning to replace it with a more permanent model.
Then, the coronavirus came to town and trapped us all in this weird Stephen King novel.
Suddenly, the air itself outside our homes seems sinister, no one wants to touch anything and playground swings hang silent all over the city.
These are crazy, scary times. But, they are not devoid of sweetness and love.
We human beings are an optimistic, friendly species and we tend to rise to the challenges in our lives.
In the days since Wisconsin Governor Evers’ Safer at Home order, the foot traffic in front of our house has picked up exponentially. Families stroll past consistently, even on rainy days, minding their social distance and enjoying each other’s company.
Our neighborhood, like many around the country, has been coming up with all sorts of delightful ways to offer support and entertainment to people as everyone observes safe distancing mandates.
Chalk Your Walk art pops up all over, in between bouts of Wisconsin’s stubborn spring rains, and people have taken to decorating their windows as well.
The Happy Heart Hunt is a Facebook group created “to spread HAPPINESS, LOVE, KINDNESS and POSITIVITY during these unprecedented times.” The idea is to create simple public art around the theme of hearts and then post them to the group page, thereby offering a two-pronged level of good cheer, for your neighbors and the world beyond.
The results have been unbelievably impressive and uplifting — a realistic chalk drawing of a lion made from hearts; a window portrait of a galloping horse made of shadow and colorful hearts; construction paper rainbows, unicorns, baseballs, and cartoon characters.
I highly recommend you join this group if for no other reason than to scroll through the posts and marvel at the ingenuity of your fellow humans.
I thought hard about what I could contribute and quickly rejected anything require actually artistic ability beyond, well, let’s be honest, kindergarten.
Then, I remembered my missing You Are Beautiful sign and an old notebook full of faded construction paper I found during a recent junk drawer cleanout.
This is my contribution to the Happy Heart Hunt and I hope it makes you smile.
I also hope you’re all healthy, staying safe and being kind to yourself and others.
You are beautiful. Even in the middle of the strangest Stephen King novel I’ve ever read.
Also, if you want to feel really good about life and good people who are generous with their talent, take a listen to Dr. Elvis Francois singing in scrubs from the Mayo Clinic piano. “Over the next few months our health care system will be tested. Many lives will be lost. Health care providers will be under an incredible amount of stress to save thousands of people. But when times are as dark as they are today, nothing shines brighter than the human spirit.,” he says.
Lovely. Thanks for the invitation.
You’re welcome
Beautiful artwork!