Pretending to Forget

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I know a woman who, very much like myself, grew up reading comic books with starry eyes until her mom would come in and turn off the light. Like me, she was always a bit of tomboy who never backed down from being as fearless as the boys. Like me, she harbored a love for creating with her hands and soon found herself drawing portraits and exploring the potential that putting pencil to paper could create. She also had a knack for doing makeup and sewing. There was never a day she wasn’t wearing the latest fashion which she had lovingly sewn herself. She rocked out to Hendrix and the Beatles and had all the free spirit of someone full of inspiration and potential.

But a funny thing happened to this bright-eyed artist. Her mom threw her comic books away and she was taught that money was more important than this silly thing called art that could never support her. She was made to grow up in short order. She forgot her love of creation, or at the very least, pushed it deep down and pretended to forget.

Over this Mother’s Day weekend, I slipped a set of watercolors into my mom’s hands and watched a smile creep on her lips and her eyes close as if the lids were heavy with the memories of days when she could enjoy such things without being judged by others. Against all other forces, my mother has been there encouraging me and telling me what her parents didn’t tell her. That art is viable, that she accepts it as being a part of me, and that she will be there always to help me when the road is hard.

To this day, she has never thrown a single comic book away, though we have moved at least 20 times throughout my life.

Now, I can only hope to help her stop pretending, to tempt her with the empty canvas and the fresh paints and the feel of a brush in her hand. This gift of inspiration I inherited from her. I hope to give it back ten-fold.

So the next time you look at your parents and think that they are just boring old business folk, ask them what they used to do for fun when they were your age. I guarantee that there are many out there who have pretended to forget their inner artist or had a dream that faded with all the years of being told that they could not.

This one’s for you, mom.

8 comments

  1. Fayn says:

    awwwww what a wonderful mother you have lol mine is just mom…..mothers day was also her bday…I was wathching her the other day and she wouldnt sit down she was determined to cook a good meal especially since my brother and one of my sisters can over. She always puts us first not matter how hard we try to get her to relax, she has issues but I love her ^^ she always supports me in everything I do……she pays for education and even gives me money she doesnt have…..she is my mother and my father so I believe I know what you mean…even though she still is boring haha…my dad on the other hand, who died before I knew him was an artist just like me.

  2. Hayley E. Lavik says:

    That’s really lovely Ang. I hope she’ll take some time to get back into it.

    It’s funny, I know all my dad’s hobbies and pet passions, but my mom has never really seemed to have any. When I was little, apparently I (ever the tactful) called to my mom from the back seat of the car and said “Mom, are you interested in anything?” I don’t think she gave me an answer, but she still remembers that I asked that. I think she and Kirb are similar that way, they need some hobbies and fast!

  3. Alessandra says:

    I met your mother a couple of times but I can tell that she is very supportive of your choices. She seems very smart and caring. I wish my mother supported me in my choices, but I’m not as lucky. She loves to point out my mistakes and make them feel ten times worse. For instance, she said I should have stuck with the pre-medicine field…I think she’s wrong. I don’t regret any of my choices and I am especially pround of the work I create.
    I would love to see your mom dabble in colors…

  4. Angela Sasser says:

    She sounds like a wonderful lady and I imagine she’s not as ‘boring’ as it seems if you could coax her out of her shell some. Or at least that’s what I try to do with my mom. I already have her burping in movie theaters and enjoying that wild freedom of giggling at stupid things XD

  5. Angela Sasser says:

    It seems parents are like that. I really had no idea what kind of hobbies my mom had till I was older and trying out creative things myself…then that seemed to rekindle mom’s interest and gave her an excuse to craft things again. She’s one of the big reasons I’m doing jewelry now.

  6. Angela Sasser says:

    I’m sorry to hear that was not the case with your mom. It’s a tough thing when parents just cannot understand why we want to do what we want to do, as they tend to be so stubborn because, in their minds, they’re hoping for their best interests, which are not involved with the arts. My dad has been on the opposite end of support at some occasions and that’s really made things rough for us at times.

    Thankfully now, we’re working through it and I hope that you can do the same and convince any who doubt your drive to succeed.

    And yeah I definitely will get her painting and possibly posting again at her DA account.

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