Honored to Honor

The other day I received a call from my pal Jen. Let me just say right now that Jen is awesome. She is a crazy, amazing runner and athlete. She runs 50 and 100 mile marathons FOR FUN!!! She also started "Butt In Gear" and sponsors a couple of local runs. She set up the runs to raise money for Make A Wish and specifically works towards filling the wish of a local child and right now she is working on Hunter's Wish. Isn't he the cutest little guy? That smile could keep me going for days. Well, Jen asked me if I would be willing to donate a little art to the raffle on October 3rd. She said she just had a feeling that she should call me and I told her I know why.

You see, it has always been a secret dream of mine to walk into the Make A Wish office, checkbook in hand, and write a check that would cover all the wishes they had that day...anonymously. I LOVE Make A Wish and I have since the day they granted my friend Perrin's wish so many years ago.

Perrin was born with Cystic Fibrosis and I don't think he ever took a clear breath of air in his life. Perrin was also a sports fanatic. He loved them all but wasn't able to play them much because he couldn't breathe if he ran. He did get to play baseball (with a designated runner) and it made him so happy. But the thing he loved more than anything was the Los Angeles Lakers and Magic Johnson was HIS guy. Make A Wish sent he and his family to Los Angeles, took him to the Lakers locker room, and introduced him to Magic Johnson. Then after the game, Magic Johnson sent him the shoes he wore. By the way, I am still in awe at how BIG those shoes are. Needless to say, it was one of the happiest days of Perrin's life.

So, the piece I am donating is in honor of Perrin and his wish. Here's the beginning.

This is the first layer of collage. I am using a primed cradle board for the first time and I LOVE it!

I have used a map of California (specifically L.A.), an old encyclopedia entry on cystic fibrosis, a vintage book page about roses (the symbol for cystic fibrosis), and "wish" from an old dictionary. I thought it so fitting that "wisecrack" was just above "wish" so I made sure not to tear that off. That made me smile. There is also a page from a book on how to draw a baseball player, a chapter from the Bobbsey Twins titled "The Fresh Air Camp" (since all he really wanted was to be able to breathe), an early stat page that listed the NBA champions up until 1988 (it didn't list the year that MY Bulls beat HIS Lakers though...closest I've ever seen him to tears), and a corner of a book page with the date June 13 (since that is the day that Perrin left us 10 years ago).

I miss that guy. He was really my brother's friend but he just became part of the family and we were all happy when he was happy...and Make A Wish made him happy.

I'm not 100% sure where this painting will go when it is finished but I am sure it will have 100% of my heart put into it. And if you are in the area please help us fill Hunter's wish. Come out to the Blue Hashi on October 3rd and don't forget to check out http://buttingear.net to sign up for the Wish Walk Run on October 15th. Let's make this little guy happy!