©Laurie Pace Graphics One Design 2023
Better Together
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by Laurie Pace
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I love this painting... I painted this for the youngest daughter of my dearest best friend in my life. Take the Netflix Series, Firefly Lane and start it with us being young moms with small children. Life was always better together and especially with Charlene and our kids. I cannot leave out MaryEllen Maddox. She was the dearest of our 'Nanny' members of our family. She was a student from Stephen F Austin State University and she helped with my children while I worked or had classes. My degree was finished but I wanted to teach and had to take some extra credits. MaryEllen was the best!
We were all slightly crazy. Charlene and I loved to take off in her Suburban and go east on the country road they lived on, suddenly taking veering turns on to other smaller roads, till we found flowers to pick, or horses to pet, or just a neat place for a picnic lunch with our budding group. She had three daughters and a son, and I had two sons and one daughter... it almost even things out.
East Texas and the town of Nacogdoches was home at that time. She and I would sit on my porch swing or in rockers on her front porch and read poetry, discuss world events, or share special moments and thoughts. We knew each other deeply during those days. We both had dreams not yet accomplished and with children to raise, our lives were basically on hold. I remember when our last two were born. She added that third daughter and I added that second son. I believe the babies were only a few months apart.
The best trip we took together was the one to Crystal Beach on the Gulf Coast. How we fit everyone in that suburban was probably not legal today, but it was back then. Seven kids and three adult women. Truly it was a vacation to remember with lots of singing, playing, building sandcastles and racing the waves. We stayed at an Gulf front Beach House owned by a family member of ours. Charlene's son was the oldest and my first born son was the third oldest in the lineup. MaryEllen helped keep up with the two youngest. Late nights under the stars... early morning long walks on the beach... always inside for games from 1-4 avoiding the worst time in the sun. We ate simple food, little clean up or cooking and the trip flew by way too quickly.
Nine years ago I connected back with Charlene's youngest; it was years after Charlene had left us for heaven. The kids were all through college, lives all established, most married with children of their own. I wanted to paint something for her that spoke of the old times when it was "Better Together". This is the piece. It started out way different than it ended up. The front blue horse represents Charlene...and the four smaller horses gathered closely are her children. When I met up with the youngest one Saturday morning, I did not want to leave. She is much like her Mom. Her voice and cadence of speech, her deep love of family (she has three littles of her own) and her passion to be be part of making the world a better place. She does ride horses... and I know Charlene's spirit is with her and her siblings until they meet again in Heaven.
Life Truly is Better Together
"There's no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard... No song that I could sing but I can try for your heart. Our dreams and they are made out of real things... Like a shoebox of photographs with sepia-toned loving- Love is the answer, at least for most of the questions in my heart. Like why are we here and where do we go, and how come it's so hard? It's not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving. I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together..." Jack Johnson
“Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.." Colossians 3:14
Follow the Spirit of the Paint... with Laurie Pace
Laurie Pace - A Texas Artist
Laurie is an international artist, her paintings are collected in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, DuBai, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, St Thomas, Romania, Greece, Croatia, and Ecuador.
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© Graphics One Design 2023
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