This is for Neva. Her recent 97th birthday celebration included telling stories of the old days, pulling out the atlas and reliving travels with the love of her life. The years drop out of her voice - she lights up as she recounts adventures far more clear in her mind than what happened yesterday.
She is in her porch-sitting years, reflecting on the long life she’s had. She’s wistful and grateful at the same time, and we wanted her tribute image to show that in the light and shadows, almost like the sun setting on all she holds dear while still warmly embracing it.
She is melancholy yet formidable, stylish and hospitable. This image tells her story: fine china, Italian stationery, the softest French silk ribbon, her favorite flowers, and a key to the past with her initial on it. These tokens of her life find their foundation on an old barn door, just as this farm girl built a good life with humble beginnings on a Nebraska farm. It’s a humbling and rewarding task to build an image that could begin to convey such a life, such a strong spirit.
On her birthday, a large bouquet of sunflowers arrived. She snorted with derisive glee - “I hate sunflowers! Who is that from?” She guessed, and sure enough, they are from the man that manages her still-thriving farm so many states away, a man who knows that Neva spent her childhood hacking down “those awful weeds” with a machete. This woman has a crackling sense of humor in the midst of what might seem from the outside to be a shrinking life. The shadows may be lengthening, but the richness and history (and love) remain.
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