Not a stick man portrait

Do you have talent? I don't. I am spectacularly talentless, especially when it comes to real artistry. Lucky for me, I have friends, very good and special friends. This one friend in particular, Cecilia, is also a very talented artist. You see this sketch here on the left? She DREW that! Like, with her hands! Hmmm, maybe just one hand. Unless she's ambidextrous and I don't know about it. Possible. 

Cecilia and I met at work sometime around the year 2000. She has told me that we met in one of the many training sessions we had to attend. Typically, I have no memory of this (this will come as no surprise to some other friends.) However, at some point we started having lunch together, then she started sending me doughnuts through our internal mail service, followed by cans of V8, half of a chocolate bar and before you knew it we were doing things outside of work too. Mostly drinking a lot of wine and eating a lot of french fries and cheese cake.

Where the last 12, nearly 13 years have gone, I don't quite know, but Cecilia has certainly been a part of my small circle of friends that whole time. We don't see each other as often anymore. Life is like that.  We don't work together anymore, she's moved out to Mars (a.k.a. Île Bizard), she's had two kids ... The point is that we're still friends and even though we're not a part of each other's every day life, I think on the occasions that we do meet up, we're able to spend quality time together. That's important for me.

A few months ago (maybe it was only a few weeks but when your friend lives on Mars you automatically think everything was a few months past) Cecilia asked me to send her a favourite picture of myself. After sending her this picture, she muttered back to me that it needed to be a picture of my face.(Sheesh, how was I supposed to know?!)  I emailed her back another picture and promptly forgot all about it.

Last week I received her Christmas card, along with a picture of her kids. Admittedly, I was disappointed not to see a reworked comical collage of some kind using the picture I'd sent, seen here to the right. (Also I had hoped her annual year in review letter would be enclosed but it wasn't and have since been told she emails that out in January. I think she's making me wait on purpose.)

Last night we had our Christmas get together and Cecilia presented me with this beautiful (and I mean the drawing itself, not the subject) picture you see at the top of this post. I was floored - I mean look at it! It's incredible! I was also so touched that I promptly burst into tears in the middle of the restaurant.  So I've been wide awake for awhile now thinking about friends and what they mean to me, and why, and lots of other end of year thoughts.  Nothing much to tell you that I can put into words just yet other than Cecilia is a great artist, a true friend and a very special person in my life. I appreciate the thought and time that went into this gift but more than all that, I am thankful for her.  Cecilia, thank you.