I M Perfect lady

Author: bjukuri

  • Reflection of Me.

    "Religion is not simply a collection of beliefs, but a way of seeing the world."  William James

    I heard this sentence and know its completely true.  

    Religion is a lens in which we are taught How to see the world.

    Who is right….and who is wrong.

    What is right and what is wrong.

    And, this dictates how they treat other people.  

    This makes more sense to me than the collection of beliefs a certain group of people believe in….it is by far more the way that they have all been trained to SEE the world.

    I know that I am seen in a variety of ways; depending on the religion of the person seeing me.

    It has nothing or very little to do with me…but their religious lenses.

    How I see me and how other religions see me rarely match…and who then is correct?

    Just a very thought provoking way to look upon religions…as religions look back at us.

    What they see is what their religion has taught them to see; but not what is.

    I know that in nature I am clearly seen.  

    A perfect reflection of me.

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  • When I followed my Truth.

    I was asked if I had a mental breakdown.  I said yes…and then No.  Not so much a mental breakdown, but that I saw the truth.  And, once I saw, I couldn't not see.  I was now incapable of wearing denial.

    What is a mental breakdown and what really breaks down?

    How is our mind broken?

    Is it the inability to think?

    Or, the inability to think like we used to think?

    I went to look up the definition of "Mental Breakdown".

    "Mental breakdown (also known as a nervous breakdown) is a colloquial term for an acute, time-limited psychiatric disorder that manifests primarily as severe stress-induced depression, anxiety or dissociation in a previously functional individual, to the extent that they are no longer able to function on a day-to-day…"

    "…manifests primarily as severe stress induced…"

    I have to wonder what is stressed?

    I didn't get a clinical diagnosis, but I can say that my mind was completely blown.

    I was able to function on a day-to-day…or hour-to-hour basis, but I didn't respond as I used to.  

    I now had a new set of files that I had to incorporate into my world; labels to be attached to me.

    I had previously said, that I was stripped of my labels, for they all fell down as false, but I wasn't truly naked.  I was now wearing labels of horrific consequences when fully brought in by the mind.

    And, my mind did.

    Tossing aside the labels of what I thought I knew, to those in the truth…was a feat my mind could barely hold.

    A whole new vernacular was given to me overnight.

    The image I held in my mind about my family, my childhood, my parents and who I was, changed overnight.

    Pedophile, sexual assault, incest, childhood trauma, dysfunctional, victim, detectives, victim statements….to name a few.

    The juxtaposition of what I thought I knew, and what was reality, was such a wide gap, it wasn't easily traversed.  Or traveled in a way that you couldn't tell a major mind shift had happened.

    What does still boggle my mind, is how others were able to bring in new labels that were a far cry from the old and continue on unchanged.

    These new labels stopped my life cold.

    They broke my stride and how I saw myself.

    This major shift in perception into the truth left me unable to act as I had previously.

    My ability to deny the truth no longer worked.

    Is that a mental breakdown?

    When you can no longer mentally process and integrate new information without IT affecting the flow of life?

    To me, and I am not a certified mental health care person, is that the ability to see the truth/reality is healthy.  And, the inability to do so, is to have a mentality that is broken.

    I actually felt strong while being completely devastated.

    To clearly see, is a gift and a curse.

    Is it a strong mental mind, to be able to deny or change your perception of someone or something?  Wouldn't that be considered the handicap…when your mind is not capable of a new thought or to bring in new information/perceptions?

    What I didn't know, was how sick I was, until I saw the truth.

    How I was able to function day-to-day without having access to reality or truths.

    And, the cost of having a mind strong enough to shield me from the truth, allowed me to participate in the ring of sexual abuse.  In denying who my father was, had me treating him like a father and not a pedophile.  

    Imagine how strong, for the lack of a better word, the mind is, that it can literally block the truth or reality out. Where its illusions are more real than reality.

    So, did I have a mental breakdown.  I feel, I became un-handicapped.

    I was no longer in the dark about the truth.

    I could see.

    It was startling, shocking, terrifyingly horrific…and incredibly freeing.

    Armed with the truth, I was able to navigate my way free from dysfunction.

    Having a mind that sees reality makes it impossible to be with folks who can't.  We just don't mix well at all.  And, ironically, my family would label me mental.  Nuts, and certifiably insane.  And, to them I am.  It would seem insane to the mind of denial to see. 

    The leap, or the fall, from the mind into reality is often brutal.

    You leave the cozy comfort of un-reality.

    It can be paralyzing not to know what is truth and what is fiction.

    How mentally strong are you?

    Can you see the truth of your own life?

    Breaking into reality can be a huge culture shock.  For, in denial I had built up a whole big life.  And, now it was based upon nothing.  When the labels fell, my whole life was in danger of falling to.  And, most of it did.

    I had to re-build while alive, integrating into my foundation…the new labels.

    It completely changed who I thought I was and oddly my new soiled labels created a perfect me.  I now matched in my head, how my body felt.

    It is interesting to think about how many of us are really in reality and how many of us deny the harsher realities our hearts can't hold.  What I know…is that those asleep in denial are there due to some horrific event.  We don't flee reality…we are forced out of it, in order to survive.

    Survive a traumatic event our mind failed to record…with truth.

    The truth, when I saw it at 46, was so powerful and horrific, there is no way a child could have lived knowing this. When the very folks who were supposed to care for the child, were the ones abusing it.  To knowingly live with a pedophile and his wife.

    And, being shunned as I am now, and made to believe I am the one who is nuts….this same treatment would have been given upon me as a child…back then.

    It is no wonder that the mind doesn't allow us to see the truth; it is protecting us and keeping us with those who 'shelter' us.

    I could not have made it on my own at 6 or 7 years old.

    I barely made it on my own at 46. 

    I had to leave everything behind…when I followed my truth.

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  • Art of Being Me

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    It came to me, that if I am going to do a workshop on Art Therapy, I should look up the definition of therapy….

    "Treatment intended to relieve or heal a disorder."

    and then, decided to check out "Art Therapy".

    "a form of psychotherapy involving the encouragement of free self-expression through painting, drawing, or modeling…"

    I love "the encouragement of free self-expression".

    As I have been toying with ideas that I could speak about, I have backed up a bit and really seen what Art and I have done together.

    When I was stripped of all my labels that defined me, I was terrified and horrified to be in the world and not know who I was….and completely liberated.

    The only place I felt free to be no one was with Art.

    Art didn't care about my past or my future…it needed me here now.

    Art had no expectations of me, no judgements or critical looks.  Art and I were able to play together no matter who I didn't know myself to be.  Art was always there in complete and total acceptance of Me.

    Art gently invited me forward.

    Encouraged self-expression.

    Art has no religious preference.

    Art doesn't care if your male or female, young or old, rich or poor, confused or clear headed.  It simply allows you to express yourself.

    The process of choosing color and design engages our feelings in a safe way.

    Leaning towards excitement and happiness….or striving for the depth and solemness when its needed.

    Often I would just arrive, just as I am, and would be amazed at my self expression upon the completion of my work.

    Freedom of self expression was critical for my self awareness.  I had come from a religion that did not foster this.  Nor do families where there are secrets entangled in  with our upbringing.  

    At 46, I was learning through Art how to express my Self.  How to literally get in touch with my Self.

    And playing with Art allowed me to explore her alone…yet not alone.

    It felt like the Universe and I were playing together with art….just art.

    But, in actuality Art was leading me in a dance of self discovery, using me to find me.  It was like going into a workshop to create art and to find out the Art was me.

    I entered into the workshop feeling imperfect, wounded and without knowing who I was and over time emerged a perfect work of art.

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    The contrast and evolution of my art astounds me.  How wonderful to have this gauge in fabric to see me grow.

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    Art doesn't need you to know you, it plays with the part of yourself that is beyond the labels of you.

    I don't believe the labels are secure on me anymore, more loosely fitted and flapping in the breeze.  Yet, I feel a great knowing of the self beneath.

    I can't wait for my workshop; I M Perfect…the art of being Me. 

    (April 9th at 6pm, at Michigan Tech's MUB, Ballroom B)

  • Against Family.

    I am an Activist.  

    I had to go and look up its meaning to see if we matched. 

    "An activist is a person who campaigns for some kind of social change."

    I also checked on what they mean by Social Change.

    "Social change refers to any significant alteration over time in behavior patterns and cultural values and norms."

    Yep, I am an activist.

    Oddly, I would not have used this label for me, but it totally fits.

    My campaign, if you will, is for victims of abuse to return to full power…and for the family dynamics to be challenged and questioned if all members don't have equal rights.

    The only way we can end these cycles of abuse, is to break the cycle.

    To end the patterns of behavior that we were raised in.

    To shatter the family's traditions that have served thee abusers.  

    For, statistic show that 90% of abuse happens with someone we know…and 50% within the family.

    We have to look closely at those we call family…and their friends.

    We have to scrutinize the rules and traditions of our religions and see how they work remarkably well for abusers and leave victims untreated, unseen and unheard.

    My campaign would flip this totally around.  

    Where the children are seen and heard and empowered…valued, honored and respected.

    Doesn't that line seem insane?

    Like who wouldn't value, honor and respect a child?  

    Isn't it incredible that we as a society have overlooked and looked around the lives inside of families.  We have neglected and disrespected their privacy.  Keeping our eyes away from their 'family' business…and allowing all manner of abuse to be okay as long as it is disguised as 'family'.

    This frontier that is closer to you than any other part of your life, is the one place we don't fully explore or challenge.  Family is and has always been out of bounds.

    It is the one thing we are not allowed to challenge…or stand against.

    You are either with us or against us.

    We take our cues from the adults in our world; never striking out on our own to investigate the origins of why we do what we do.  We wouldn't dare go against the family's legacy of being a family.

    To challenge a family is unheard of.

    It is to be a non-family family member.

    Family is family no matter what.

    We don't dis family.

    We don't tear a family apart due to some abuse issues.

    We rally and stick closer together when abuse walks in.

    Even if abuse wears the label father…you don't wreck a family over that.

    My campaign is to tear apart families that are not families…

    To allow children (adult children) to break free and to end the cycles of abuse on their limb of the family tree.

    Abuse will not end unless and until we destroy abusive Families.

    Allowing the family to stay labeled as family when abuse is happening is what keeps it going for generation upon generation.

    We are smarter than this.

    We can no longer turn a blind eye to the statistics and ignore the 90% of where abuse lives.

    It lives in families.

    In our Aunts and Uncles.

    Our grandfathers…and grandmothers.

    With their friends.

    It is so close; we can't see the forrest for the trees….

    Pedophiles are held tight within the family circle.

    Supported by those in silence.

    And, by those who don't want to let the family die.

    Yet, the family is already dead.

    It has been replaced by a well run abuse machine.

    How can you tell if you are within a family or part of an abusive crime circle?

    Are the children seen, heard and respected?

    Do they have a voice and a choice?

    Are they free to make their own decisions….do they own their bodies?

    Or, are they held captive by those who have control over their lives?

    Doesn't it seem incredibly insane that these criminal circles of sexual abuse and physical abuse grow their own victims?

    And, they call it 'family'.

    And, within the circle are those who know; but stay silent.

    Silent for the sake of family.

    How successful will my campaign be….as I go against family.

    (But, I just realized I am an activist for children…the silent many who suffer in the family circle.)

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  • Different Feelings.

    Feelings are unexpected guests that arrive, they just hop in and depending upon what is going on, they join the moment…you can't plan for them or invite them, they just arrive.

    They arrive with announcements or do they announce the event?

    Somedays we have many guests.  

    Other days it seems we can go along without feeling.

    Monitoring these feelings or welcoming them is at times is a tricky landscape.

    Last night while watching innocent appearing home videos of the children when they were young, voices of my past rang out.

    It was surreal.

    The juxtaposition to see our kids as little children and their delightful antics and personalities were mixed in with my estranged family…and my feelings of today striking up against mine from the past.

    A very odd mixture for sure.

    To see a life I barely recognize and yet at once familiar.

    To feel my children's familiar trust with a family whose patterns of abuse are clearly now known.

    How odd as a parent to witness my allowing of those relationships. 

    We didn't see them all, just a few.  I don't know what else I recorded….and sadly then how much I didn't.

    The thing my video lens did not record IS the most life defining.

    It wasn't the cute children doing what children do.

    It's the irresponsible behavior of the adults.  

    Adults in denial.  

    Adults trying to keep peace. 

    Adults being vigilant and yet so very careless with the spirits and lives of so many children.  To see them as children…so trusting.  And, now knowing them as adults and seeing their lives and choices made.  Knowing still how abuse has speckled their worlds; marked by the unaddressed at the time….abuse.

    I can see the hand my choices have made.

    I can see how I brought them to my family of abuse.

    I didn't bring them to abuse; I brought them to family.  I shared my children with family.  Yet, I unwittingly connected them to folks who are incapable to hold sacred their trust.

    In the midst of this past review a call came in my husband's aunt passed away.

    An aunt who I have gotten to know in the past few years.

    A friend.

    It was as if my body was swirling with feelings; too many to feel.

    The easy one was to hold my granddaughter and feel this.

    I had just read in David Hawkin's book "Letting Go: The Pathway to Surrender" about feelings.

    "First we have to be aware of what is really going on inside of us before we can do anything about it. As we let go of a feeling, it is replaced by a higher one.  The only purpose for recognizing and admitting a feeling is so that we can relinquish it.  To be surrendered means that w are willing to relinquish a feeling by allowing ourselves just to experience it and not to change it. Resistance is what keeps it there in the first place."  David

    I had lots to feel. But, they were coming in too fast to really experience, or so it seems.

    It was like I was on a ride of feelings.  

    Feel this….and let it go.

    Feel this. Feel this. Feel this.  Like a smorgasbord of feelings flooding in a very short amount of time.  Past, present, old relationships, gone relationships, passing friend….new grandchild, children, family, estranged family….an onslaught, too much to hold.

    It was as if I was challenged to feel and was quickly given another. Feel and then change to a vastly different one.  All the while on edge to what was going to be filmed next, who was going to pop up.  And staying present in the room; while being transported back.  Being me and seeing the old me and my old life…while in the present.

    Feelings are just guests giving us a message….we are to experience them as they are and not try to change them.

    I have learned to accept what is.

    Just at times, this acceptance is harder to accept.

    Last evening I had many guests…all bringing different feelings.

     

     

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  • That Wasn’t True…for Me.

    In David Hawkin's book "Letting Go: The Pathway to Surrender" he writes…

    "Psychotherapy aims at the amelioration of neurotic patterns.  (I looked up the word amelioration – "the act of making something better; improvement.") Letting go, however, is designed to undo the underlying causes of all neurotic formation. It undoes the basic structure of maladaptive feeling and behavior.  Psychotherapy seeks for an improvement in neurotic balance.  Letting go, however, eliminates all together."  

    "A limitation of most psychotherapeutic frameworks is that the therapist is constricted to what the world calls a healthy, functioning ego with all its restrictions.  In this paradigm, a healthy patient is considered to be one who shares the same illusions and limitations condoned by society and the therapist.  By contrast, the purpose of the mechanism of surrender is to transcend the illusions of the world and reach the ultimate truth behind it – which is Self-Realization – and to discover the very basis of the mind itself, the source of all thought and feeling."

    "The goal of letting go is the elimination of the very source of all suffering and pain. This sounds radical and startling and, in fact, it is!  Ultimately, all negative feelings stem from the same source.  When enough negative feelings have been relinquished, that source reveals itself. When that source itself is let go of and dis-identified with, the ego dissolves. The source of suffering, therefore, loses the very basis of its power."

    "Each of us has a limit to the amount of negative feelings we have stored up. When the pressure behind an emotion has been let go, that emotion no longer occurs. For instance, if fear is constantly surrendered for a period of time,eventually it runs out.  It then becomes difficult or almost impossible to feel further fear.  It takes progressively more and more stimulus to elicit it.  Finally, a person who has surrendered a great deal of fear actually has to search for it diligently. The energy of fear simply isn't there anymore.  Anger  also progressively diminishes so that even a major provocation fails to elicit it.  A person with little fear or anger feels primarily love all of the time and experiences a loving acceptance of events, people and the vicissitudes of life."

    I had to look up "Vicissitudes"…."a change of circumstances or fortune, typically one that is unwelcome or unpleasant."

    "The goal of surrender is transcendence.  Psychotherapy accepts levels of behavior as healthy that, from the viewpoint of total freedom, are unacceptable.  For instance, in psychotherapy, minimal fear, anger, and pride might be considered necessary or acceptable levels of functioning and perhaps even "healthy."  But as we have seen, the innate destructiveness behind these lower states is ultimately not acceptable- given the power of surrender to transcend them totally.  Beyond the "acceptable level of functioning" aways our greater destiny: total freedom."  David

     

    This has been my experience.  

    And, I believe that ultimately, society will come to recognize that the treatments we have that don't deliver us to total freedom will have to be retired.

    Also, many of the 'healing' modalities that there are "in" today, are so that the patient has to rely upon another person…or salve or technique and do not challenge the mind that created it….or the thoughts and/or beliefs.

    The new age or latest 'healing' therapies literally skip the mind and address the body.  And, the body is only responding to what the mind thinks, has thought or worries about….etc.

    David goes on…

    "Although letting go seems simple and easy, its ultimate effects are profoundly powerful.  A quick little surrender done in an almost off-handed manner can sometimes bring about a major change in our life.  We can picture it being similar to the wheel of a ship.  If we make even a one-degree change in the ship's compass, we will notice very little difference; but, as the ship sails over the sea hour after hour, day after day, a one-degree change in the compass will end up taking us to a very different place many miles from where the original course would have taken us."  David

     

    Surrendering isn't as easy to see….but what you are holding on to is.

    What is stopping you from change?

    What holds you in place?

    What ideas are non-negotiable?

    What beliefs have you set your compass to and refuse to budge even one degree?

    Letting go of you identity, your beliefs, your religion, your expectations, your ideals, and sitting in a position of being detached may seem very scary.

    But, scarier to me is to be mentally tied to something that goes against reality.

    To go with the flow, surrendering to what is….Is total freedom.  

    The greatest transcendence is to get out of your mind.

    To question its beliefs and ideas…to use your mind instead of being a prisoner of it.

    What was amazing to me was how much I had to let go of to be Me!

    Surrendering to everything that wasn't true…for Me.

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  • Your Unique Perspective.

    While doing Art, you are challenged with perspective and often it is illusive and not attainable.  Its skewed perspective then becomes Art that seems to struggle among itself.

    The eye, or maybe brain is then agitated….or is it stretching your perspective subconsciously.

    Sometimes while trying to get the perspective right, I fall in love with the items that are out of size and leave them anyway.  

    Other times, its off-ness seems just right. I feel more drawn to Art when things are not perfect; but there seems to be a carelessness about perspective.

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    This one was painful when I tried to 'care' about each item and its perspective….if I let it go, I relaxed and just enjoyed the overall view.  

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    Each piece on its own is perfect and its imperfections in perspective makes it seem more charming to me.  I try and do my best and don't give up on the theme, just because something appears too large or too close.  Often the distance is fluid…but it keeps the eye interested and not bored.

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    Today I began a new one.  I wanted My Lady to be sitting in a Kayak with a closer up view…and facing forward.  During the designing of it, part of me wants me to quit before I begin, for it seems really hard to depict it correctly. 

    Another part of me falls in love quickly and I can't just abandon her….so I leave it be.

    I like this Kayak Lady…even if once again perspective is a struggle with the perfect seeking part of me.  The careless artful part of me is happy….and loves her.  

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    While contemplating the seriousness of perspective and its place in Art or whether eye catching art is out of perspective…I wondered about the two parts that fight within me over details doing art.

    I know for sure there is a childlike careless girl playing in fabric and her joy over talks any serious thinking art like person.  

    When the childlike careless girl loves it, it is harder for me to take it off the background for a more 'real' or 'right' idea.

    I just can't get serious about Art.

    Maybe that is the correct perspective on Art and Life….do what brings you joy, and not worry how others will perceive your unique perspective.

     

  • Instead of Sins

    The actual affects and residual behaviors that are often born from surviving trauma, are the very things the church has labeled "sins".  These behaviors are used to cover up the pain.  They are self medicating tools…

    As I pondered what the church ladies would think about the behaviors of the people written about in "Voluntary Madness" it came to me, how misunderstood "sin" is.

    Can a church objectively look at the 'sins' and help us?

    The very 'sins' the church wishes to forgive and forget are the signs and clues showing the blueprint back to the core or our pain; the trauma.

    If all you see are the 'sins' they are committing and not see them as signposts, can you effectively treat them?

    From the reading I have done and listening to other victims, it is clear to me, what are called 'sins' are just a normal response to abnormal behavior.

    If you see a 'sinner' instead of a person who is having a normal reaction to trauma, you will place the blame and shame upon the wrong individual.

    This transference of shame leads to self annihilation that is further compounded in churches who list these affects as sin.  We are bad people; sinners.

    It is like having an illness whose side affects are labeled sin.

    The treatment of the church is to have the victim feel guilty for having a normal response to trauma/abuse/sexual abuse…making them the problem; when it is not their fault.  You have to see WHY….instead of asking why.

    IF, and it is a big IF, the church could see them as sinless; there would be a glimmer of hope in finding recovery there.

    The whole concept of sin and forgiveness would have to be put aside in order for victims of abuse to be innocent….and faultless.

    What would a church be for IF there were no sin?  

    And, if we were all innocent; but responding normally to abnormal treatment…would they then have to see who is not treating whom correctly?  

    Would they then have to look upward towards the parents instead of downward to the child for responsibility?  And see the beginning of this cycle…reversing the direction blame has been handed to.

    How many institutions and societal leadership roles will hold parents accountable for the ills of society?  

    What a concept and hardship for the church to flip around.  Especially in the churches that are patriarchal and children are to be seen and not heard…voiceless and choiceless?

    What will it take to give a voice and a choice to these abused children?  

    Imagine a world where you see the wounds instead of sins.

  • Voluntary Madness

    I know that in my last discussion about religion and abuse, I am not clearly understood and perhaps I can't clearly understand the opposite side.  What I do know, is that religion isn't a place to heal, if you will, from mental disorders and or trauma from sexual abuse.

    Maybe this is the crux of the real problem.  

    Often religion and its followers Believe that it can. That if only we would believe harder in your God, we too could find peace.

    It would be more of a service to those of us who suffer the affects of abuse to be steered to a helping organization.  To have our abusers handed over to the justice system…and to help, if need be to stay away from our abusive family.  To support us as we stand against abuse.  

    Keep religion to do what religions does. 

    Which at this point in my life and my experience, I am not really clear what religion is for.  However, I do know what it does not work on.

    I am not against God.

    Having climbed from the hell hole that abuse puts you in, I know that telling me to have a personal relationship with God is not helpful.  I don't even know who I am and I first have to find a personal relationship with me.  I need to be supported in doing this. In following my truth; before following Jesus.

    While I know to the depth of my being the religious people I know are not unkind…intentionally.  They are, I believe just believing that ALL THINGS can be healed by God.  And then try and do this with us.

    I have many friends who consider themselves Christians and have great Faith.

    However, many of these same friends have no idea what my journey from abuse has been like. Nor can they appreciate an abusive parent, an abusive home and a childhood of lost innocence.  By telling us God loves us isn't enough.

    My fear and concern of the latest Author of Hush is that her message is that the church can heal us.

     

    I am listening to a book by Norah Vincent "Voluntary Madness" – Lost and Found in the Mental Healthcare System.  It is an incredible book about what those of us with mind disorders are up against.  Even in the Healthcare System it isn't an easy recovery from what ails the mind, body and soul.

    This book is showing just how difficult our journey is to finding the core of our pain, dealing with the pain and what society's healthcare system has to offer  and to find a way back to the self we left when abused.

    This author would be one I would wholeheartedly support!  

    Recovery isn't pretty and easily found.

    Again it is a dis-service to all of us to have religion as a healthcare service.

    I know she (Hush author) speaks of counseling; but she wants Christian Counseling.  Where religion and its base is the content of the healing modality.

    For those who read Hush, I would also like you to read "Voluntary Madness" and then let us pick up the conversation.

     

     

  • Great Lakes Showcase

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    Imagine, my Art is hanging here at the Great Lakes Showcase; an annual juried exhibition of fine arts and crafts from local and regional artists!

    I entered wondering how it would feel to have My Lady hanging among other types of Art…for this is her first time in an exhibition!  She would be with Art of many types…and from long established artist as well.  A newcomer to the scene.

    I entered the space looking quickly to see if I could spot her…..and I did at the end of the gallery!  Her bright colors caught my eye!

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    It was neat to see her hanging with other interesting works of art….the creative expressions of so many.

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    And, neat to see a spotlight focused on her…so cool.  

    "Francis" was holding her own at the end of the gallery!  I love that she is by the door and can see folks walking by!  How fun for her!!!

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    I love that My Lady is there and being recognized as Art.  Because she has been more Art Therapy and the image in front of my message, I don't see her as art first; but rather sharing the message of personal empowerment and freedom of expression to be I M Perfect and You be You….I don't see the Art.  I feel the message more.  

    I am proud to call her mine!

     

    Here is the link to see the rest of the show….Great Lakes Showcase

    I loved this piece…created with paint and fabric, by Renee L. Michaud titled "Beauty"

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