Travel Memento

I’m not someone who tends to buy a lot when we travel. We really don’t need more things, and suitcase space is usually pretty limited. That being said, over the years we have brought a few special items home with us, and each one holds a memory.

This painting is one of those pieces. It has a very special place in our home, especially because it’s of one of our sons.

(picture of my son at that time)

Back in 1995, we had moved from Canada to Barbados with our young family after John took a position with a local insurance company. Not long after we arrived, I became involved with the Canadian Women’s Club.

At one of the annual events, I noticed a local woman off to the side taking photos of the children. She came over and introduced herself, explaining that she was an artist. She liked to photograph people who caught her attention and later paint from those images.

At the time, I didn’t think too much of it.

More than a year went by, and then one day a friend mentioned that the artist had been trying to find me. She told me that she had painted a couple of pieces of my son.

When I went to her gallery, there it was - a large painting of my two-year-old son hanging on the wall.

Of course, we bought it right then and there.

Since that day, it’s been displayed in a prominent place in our home. Every time I look at it, it takes me right back to that time in our lives. It was such a special time for us, raising our young boys and settling into that slower island way of life.