I have a set of cousins – twins – a few years older than me. They acted as stand-in big brothers and I absolutely idolized them. They were clever, kind, and SO cool. The summer before I entered highschool they began teasing me, making radical claims that seniors (them) couldn’t be seen fraternizing with lowly freshman (me) and playfully threatened to act like they didn’t know me all year to protect their own reputations.I was sure they were bluffing, but my impressionable heart tended toward insufferable anxiety. So, when the school year started and I faced the first few days alone, I began to wonder.
Eventually, I spotted them across campus (they were hard to miss: two matching young Frank Sinatras taking long strides across the lawn with a group of friends).
They both looked up and saw me at the same time.
I waited and my heart raced.
Each gave a small nod of acknowledgment, one tilting his chin up with a flick and raising his eyebrows; the other bobbing his head down and giving a gentle smirk.
I melted with relief.
Bluffers.
They nodded my way hundreds of times that year, sometimes with a bob or flick of the head, sometimes by giving me a ride, introducing me to their friends, or waving me over to chat. Each time I felt noticed and valued. I heard “I see you. You matter to me.” And that meant the world to me.
This is the nod I had in mind when I named our business “A Nod To Nature”.
Because nods matter.
And so do you.
Maybe I’m just nosy, but not knowing Mona Lisa’s true identity or why Titian used that particular shade of red drives me mad. I just love a good backstory. A heartbreak behind a song lyric, the namesake of a book character, or the actual meal that inspired a recipe…those stories bring it all to life for me. As an artist, I know every painting, sculpture, or textile…every piece of jewelry, comic strip, or quilt…every architectural design, garden, or hairstyle…all began with an idea…an inspiration…a moment.