Ramble On

Today as I sat surrounded by taxidermy animals, a family came up beside me.

I heard the dad say, "Look, Emily. Do you see what she is doing? She's an artist. Just like you."
Little Emily then came up right beside me and watched me render out values of my hippopotamus friend I commonly know as Joshua.
She stood and stared
down at the drawing and then up at me.
Her eyes lit up with excitement.
We made eye contact, I smiled, she returned the gesture, and then quickly fluttered away.

For as long as I can remember, I've had a pen in hand drawing on whatever I could find, making projects, painting on everything, attempting to make sculptures out of Play-Doh.
Everything I did revolved around art.
In my third grade class, each student had to pick a famous person to impersonate and write a report about.
I chose Henri Matisse.
I recall the moments when people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up.
What I would do if I could do absolutely anything with my life.
I always would reply,
"I would be an artist. I want to be an artist."
And then as I got older,
  I would follow up with the phrase,
      "But that's not realistic."
For a while I believed it. It wasn't realistic.
Every time that little dream of mine popped into my head,
The voice of "reason" would come along, telling me to cut it out and to figure out something useful to do with my life.

Flash forward to present day.
It's 3:48 am on a Wednesday.
I am awake, sitting on my floor, creating.
I am in the midst of applying to the Studio Art program at my school.
I am following my childhood dream.
I am doing what I love.

Sometimes I have to remind myself of that.
Following your heart is not always easy. Nothing in life ever is.
But when those not-so-ideal times make their way into my life,
I have to remind myself of little Emily.
Little Emily who is oh-so similar to a once Little Emma,
who said everyday,
            "I want to be an artist."

* Ramble On - Led Zeppelin