Storytellers and Mavericks

My grandmother (far right) was born into a large family. Her parents weren't able to feed them all so the children were farmed out to neighbors to work in their fields. In return, the children were fed.

Perhaps because of this upbringing of lack, she was a magician at making do with what she had. She had no toys in her home but it was my favorite place because anything could be a toy. I could spend hours playing with her flatware and a Quaker Oats box of buttons. She was the first person to encourage my imagination.

This picture is called "Invisible Gifts". Hidden underneath the farm houses where grandma worked to eat, are images of vintage buttons. Her hardships became the seeds that bloomed into a strong, beautiful, imaginative women. It is those gifts she passed along to me.

(I penciled in corn stakes to the left of the road and drew buttons on the road itself. They are hard to see in the image.)

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