"The
Gift of One More Minute" |
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Two days before Mother's Day
2002 my 22 year-old daughter was in an automobile accident. Driving to Idaho to
visit a friend, she rolled her Ford Aspire rental car 3 or 4 times going at freeway
speed. The car was totaled and much to the amazement of witnesses she miraculously
survived with relatively minor injuries. I spent
Mother's Day driving to Idaho and bringing her home. Four hours each way, my most
persistent thought was how I could just as easily be making that drive to pick up my
daughter's body.
With a shudder I acknowledged that this was truly the most
wonderful Mother's Day present I could ever receive - My lovely daughter sitting beside me
bruised, cut and whiplashed yet so very much alive! |
| My daughter and I are very close and we often
joke about the umbilical cord still being connected between us. It still brings tears to my eyes to think that she could have died
that day and I would be one of the many mothers who mourn the loss of a child.
This was especially poignant since I was in the process of
sculpting the Marissa sculpture. Marissa only had about 40 minutes on this earth and
yet touched the lives of her parents very deeply.
Since my daughter's name is Melissa, I thought often about
the mother of Marissa while studying the photos I was sculpting from. I couldn't
help imagining being in her position. |
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I think every mother who loses a child
before their time would give just about anything for one more minute, just one more hug,
one more kiss, one more whispered "I love you". Sometimes I feel as though I'm living an episode of the Twilight
Zone where a beloved daughter dies in a car accident and over the mangled, lifeless body
of her child, the grieving mother begs and pleads the universe to give her just one more
minute. Just one more...
Suddenly reality shifts and her child is alive and she has
one more minute and then another and another yet the vague memory of the alternate reality
stays with her as a reminder.
I am so grateful for every moment I have with my sweet
Melissa. |
| This sculpture was created as an entry in a
contest. The contest required the incorporation of the filigree technique which I
used for the tail decoration. My original intention
was to create a single mermaid mostly as an excuse to try out the technique but since my
daughter's accident it seems every sculpture I create has needed a child in my
eyes.
I felt strongly the desire to depict the feeling of that
"one more minute" I feel I've been granted with my daughter. |
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Although she is 22 years of
age and our relationship is defined mostly by our close friendship - almost sisterhood -
rather than a typical adult-to-child relationship, in my heart I suppose she will always
be my little girl. Approximately 300 Austrian
crystals in various sizes embellish the filigree and I have jokingly referred to the
sculpture as my "Faberge Mermaids". |
| I have no plans to sell this piece as it is
intensely personal to me. I have heard it said that
art is another way of keeping a diary. This piece certainly qualifies as a diary
entry for me and reminds me that I have won the prize.
I still have my precious daughter to hug and kiss and tell
her I love her.
And I also won the contest. |
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Filigree is
accomplished by rolling many thin strands of polymer clay which are coiled and spiraled
tightly together to form a decorative covering.
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Item # SCM006 Cost: n/a |
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| Inventory Status |
| Not For Sale |
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