A Thanksgiving story about Adele Earnshaw. Im a HUGE fan of Adeles art and visited the annual Wildlife Show in Fallbrook every year to add to my Adele collection. Three years after I met Adelle, 2,300 homes burned down in a single day in San Diego. I lost BOTH my home and business, all my book and DVD masters, plus 900 pieces of my own art as well as the art I had collected from Adele.I had nothing left but one garbage bag with a few clothes. For the next year my life was grueling. No business insurance was available to small businesses so I lost $750,000 & had to sell my land, move and restart my business. As I made the list of things I had lost for my insurance company. I remembered Adeles painting of the quilt. I wanted to re purchase it to bring back the comfort I had experienced every time I viewed it. You see I grew up in the African jungle and attended boarding schools so quilts were my only constant as I was shuffled from from place to place. My precious handmade quilt listened as I prayed and absorbed homesick tears as I cried myself to sleep each night. I cherished this piece of home so much that I even managed to sneak my quilt into the evacuation car that ferried me through the jungle when the soldiers came to our boarding school to rescue the children from impending death, by the hands of the rebel soldiers. The next day all the children were slated for slaughter. We barely escaped with our lives but I had my quilt. So I wrote to Adele inquiring re how I could re purchase a limited edition of that quilt painting. Imagine my surprise when I received this in the mail. Im so sorry the quilt painting is sold out. the letter read. My heart sank. But I have an artists proof and Im going to mail it to you at no charge. A tsunami of sobs soaked the letter as I read it over and over and absorbed the tender loving kindness. I would again have a quilt to comfort me in this horrific journey back to wholeness. I stuffed the letter in a cardboard box because I didnt have any furniture and went about my business - working with the demolition experts, insurance companies, phone companies, gas companies, brokers who sold my land, and months and months of paperwork... re claiming all the paper that proves who I am, social security, birth certificates, transcripts. For a person who HATES paperwork It was like a daily grueling hell. Then one day a mail slip arrived.- You received a package that is too big for your box. Go to the post office to pick it up. When I opened the box, there sat the quilt painting AND lovely note cards Adele painted. A kind message comforted me. In the middle of lifes demands, may you find comfort in His hands. Adele shone light into my dark place and gave me courage to keep going. 11 years later, I have recovered beautifully and I now work full time writing and illustrating art courses and coaching Art Apprentice students on five continents from a penthouse overlooking the San Diego Bay. Still, every night, before I close my eyes, I smile at the painting that hangs above my bed. The world is a better place with you in it Adele! Thank you.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 21:24:10 +0000
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