It has certainly been a wild past couple of days. I have been so emotionally and mentally drained, that I have come down with some sort of nasty little cold.

My dear sweet Great Aunt Mimi died yesterday morning. She had been battling leukemia for a little while now, but seemed to be doing pretty well until Sunday night. Growing up I was very close to her, and we corresponded through the mail just like I did with my own grandmother. Her passing is particularly hard for me, for so many reasons. One reason being that my grandma (her sister) died of leukemia also, and it keeps bringing me back to that very, very sad time. It seems so weird to me that on that side of my family she was the last living person in her generation. Her brother and sister both passed within the last four years, and now my dad and his siblings are the ‘old’ people. It kind of baffles me in a way, because I am so into my family history, and it never seems like there is enough time to hear all the stories.

From left to right is my great uncle Reps, my aunt Mimi, and my grandma, Susan.

Yesterday I could do no more than sit on the sofa and fill my head with mindless and unintelligent TV programs. Today I worked up the energy to get a little more done on the current painting I am working on. I didn’t do a lot, but I still feel like I accomplished a lot.

I can’t wait to finish this painting. As you may notice, it was inspired by the boy in the mirror photo I found a while ago. I really want to finish this before summer school starts in two weeks. I have a whole pile of blank canvas that I stretched from the dumpster, and if I don’t start some paintings, once school starts it is going to be very hard to find inspiration!