Art and Such

A few years ago, when I lived just three blocks away from TJ Maxx in Albuquerque, I would frequently frequent the fine establishment. I found a painting that I loved but couldn't justify spending $79.99. So I did what any self-respecting, decent person would do...I hid it in the store so no one else could take it while I thought it out. Just two days later, when I decided that I could no longer live without it, I went back to purchase the beautiful artwork that I now knew would go perfectly on my living room apartment wall. Much to my dismay, the painting couldn't be located in the entire store...even my hiding place had been emptied! I learned a valuable lesson that very day. If I happen to be in TJ Maxx and happen to see something that I love, I need to buy it rather than let somebody else take it home!

Fast-forward almost four years...you would think the wounds of such a loss would still be fresh. Last week, I happened to be at TJ Maxx and happened to be browsing through the art selections when I saw it...a gorgeous new picture that captured my soul! It had my favorite colors! It had a gorgeous landscape! It was abstract but real enough to recognize what it was! It was, quite simply, PERFECT! But I looked at the price tag and let my heart sink. So I walked (and whimpered) out of the store without putting it in my shopping cart (actually, I never use a shopping cart in that store...I tend to get carried away when I don't have to balance the selected items in my arms).

I had dreams of the painting. I talked to John about the painting. It was the first piece of art on my mind when I awakened the next morning. I decided that, once again, I couldn't live without this piece on my wall. So I went back, only to be heartbroken that it was missing from its previous location. How could I do this to myself?! Twice? Come on!

Wednesday is the day new arrivals come to the store. Only a maniac like myself would be privy to such information. I decided to twist the dagger in my soul a little more by seeing if the same painting would arrive on the new shipment. No such luck, so I decided to walk around the rest of the store to cheer myself up. Luckily for me...I stumbled across my painting! The very one I thought had been lost forever! It is so beautiful that they had moved it to a difference location in the store to show it off. I felt a little silly for not pouting the day before and finding the painting in the process, but one can imagine my glee that I had re-discovered it at last! What a joyous reunion.

I was very cheerful until I got to my car and attempted, unsuccessfully, to fit a 40x40 inch painting into my Ford Taurus. Did you know the angle on a door measures just 38"? I didn't know that, either. So I reluctantly took the painting back inside so they could hold it for me until I figured out what to do. On my drive home, I decided to bug John's cousin, Barbara, to see if her Honda Pilot just happened to be available for an artwork pickup. She is so sweet and good to us...she let me steal her car to pick up the painting, which magically fit inside the back of her vehicle with no problems at all!

When I got home, I had a new problem. Which wall in our tiny apartment can showcase this beautiful painting that had now captured my spirit? I tried the main wall in our living room but ultimately felt much too guilty to give those church guys and the temple the boot. So I put them back up in their proper places and took my painting to another wall in the house. In my bedroom. And now I get to enjoy it all the time! I am already planning future furniture and accessories to match this painting in our home someday. In the meantime, it can hang out in my bedroom and make me very, very happy.