Bunnies, Balloons, & Big Surprises

I did this piece for no particular reason.  No…That’s not true.  I drew this in response to a Christmas gift that my husband gave me.  I’m working out some pieces with my more rendered style, verses the line and wash ones.  It’s on the sweet-side but that’s what I was going for!  And what did my husband get me to prompt this illustration?  The rest of the story, after the illustration…..

Ah!  You scrolled down. Great!  Now the story….

So, yes…My husband, Paul, and I had different plans for Christmas.  At my father’s request, rather than go back to Montreal for the holidays (and a good portion of winter), we decided it was best for me to stay down in Texas for a while, which included Christmas and New Year’s Eve/Day.  Paul and I had made plans to visit my brother and his family in PA, as we like to do for Christmas, so we had to cancel.  And because we had made the decision for me to stay in Texas so close to Christmas, plane tickets for Paul to fly Corpus Christi were too expensive.  With a week off of work and on his own, Paul told me he had decided to go to Newfoundland (his birthplace and where he considers ‘home’) and had purchased an inexpensive ticket to spend Christmas & New Year’s there.  I thought that was a wonderful idea and excitedly supported his going there to spend the holidays.  On Christmas Eve, he embarked to the airport, calling me to let me know he was leaving.  A number of hours later, he called to tell me he had arrived in St. John’s safely.  I was heading over to a friend’s house for a Christmas Eve party and he said he wanted to call there and wish everyone a merry Christmas.  So I left and arrived at the party; I knocked at the front door and let myself in.  As I entered, I saw my friend, Danny, in the living room sitting next to someone…..who looked a lot like my husband(!!!).  Of course, that person couldn’t be my husband.  He’s in Newfoundland.  But that person sure LOOKED like my husband.  The thought briefly crossed my mind that maybe I’m asleep and dreaming I’m seeing him.  But I wasn’t; and it WAS my husband!  He had surprised me by coming down to Texas to spend Christmas with me!  And, boy, was I surprised (an understatment, really)!  There were little clues here and there, but I was totally fooled.  It took me a good few hours to make the paradigm shift, to wrap my head around his being here with me in South Texas and not in a canadian province in the north Atlantic.  Wow!  Some Christmas present, huh?

So the image with the bunnies is sort of representational of this story:  Pink Bunny, floating in from the far reaches of the forest, just to be with Blue Bunny.  Shhhhhweeet!  Just like my husband. : )