Saturday, June 12, 2010

"A Blank Canvas" for Graduation


My very best friend in the whole world has a daughter that graduated from High School this month. We traveled to Chicago to attend a wonderful party that she threw for her. I wanted to take the perfect gift, but money is the norm. I began to think about my own daughter and what I felt on her graduation day (which was only 2 years ago).

I went to our local craft store looking for something that spoke to me and I happened upon the blank canvases. So here is what I came up with:

"A Blank Canvas"
Well, here it is. You waited a long time for this. The time when you can make your own decisions and go in any direction that you feel lead. Many people have worked hard to get you to this point. They love you and have always wanted nothing more than to give you a solid foundation on which to build your own life. The border and background of this canvas represents all of their hard work, and yours, that lead you to this important point.

So here is where you start your story... your painting. This very special moment in your life is a blank canvas. We don't get many opportunities to start fresh, but this is one of them. So what will you paint? And how will you choose to paint it? These are questions that only you can answer. Like fine art, your life is a journey. It isn't something you will paint in a day, a month, or a year. As you travel down the path you choose, and paint your masterpiece, there will be many choices to be made. What colors will you use? Heavy, bold brush strokes, or light and fine? It's up to you. You will make mistakes, and you will experience difficult times. But once you recover you will see that the process enriched the painting, the experience, and helped to make the final product unique and amazing.

This Canvas represents your journey. It is meant to remind you that anything is possible and that you have the ability, the creativity, and the moxie to make it happen.

We wish you the very, very best of everything and we have every confidence that you will end up with a Masterpiece, something that couldn't have possibly been created by anyone but you. And it will be amazing. We know it. We look forward to watching your painting emerge, become defined and blossom into the Masterpiece we all know it will be. We Love you.
Julia Culbreth

(Please do not reprint or use without permission: ghkmom@aol.com)

I typed this and printed it in a script font on Parchment and put it with, literally, a blank canvas as pictured above. Of course I tucked in some money :) I really wasn't expecting much of a response from an 18 year old, I mean, common, I wouldn't have "gotten it" at that age. However, she really, really loved it. Cried at the end as did her parents. It turned out so much better than I thought. And we had such a wonderful time that weekend!

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