One moment in the life of an artist

On your right, a 'frog' I drew when I was a couple years old, back at my parents home in Ecuador. After more than 20 years living in my mom's closet, the frog is in danger of disappearing behind a couple of layers of wall paint as in a few days my parents will move out of the house where they have lived for almost 30 years.

There is no way to save my frog from imminent death as the wall where I drew it is shared with out next-door neighbours, and trying to break the wall and take out that peace would be a mess. I asked my dad, for that reason, to take some pictures of the frog so that some part of it survives even after the paint covers it completely.

There is not much more to say about the frog besides that it is one of the many memories that link our lives to our house; memories that are so many in number that moving out of the place has turned out to be emotionally challenging. Although ours is an old house (and it desperately needs a remodelling), its old walls, its color, the chipped door edges, the darkness and the noisy roof are some of the aspects that, together with our lives, made of that house a home. A home where I grew up, my brother grew up, my parents became who they are, and the four of us became a family. So, for all those reasons, cheers to the house, to the home, and to the memories! May there be other places as that house where our past, present and future can remain just as safe and for so many years!

Ah! By the way, I've 'stolen' the title of this post from one of David Sedaris' stories, "Twelve Moments in the Live of an Artist". In case you don't know him, David Sedaris is a comedy-satire writer from the US whose work is mostly based on his personal experiences as a child, a gay adult, an expatriate in London and Paris, and a member of a pretty extravagant family. I find his narratives so entertaining and appealing not only for how amusing, but also for how human they are, and in case you learn about his work, either look for him at the bookstore or listen to him at “This American Life”, a radio program distributed by the National Public Radio, NPR, in the US.