
I did not think this was going to be as hard as it was and is. I just posted this piece on Instagram. While I was writing about it I started crying. It’s Friday night, basketball night. a calm happy evening with my person. I started the process of posting this piece and updating to all my social sites but the thoughts just made me cry of every person who has ever felt they were unseen. For every person who has lived a life time of being unseen. You see I have not been unseen.
There are thousands of events in my life when I was seen. That little four year old girl on the coffee table dancing and singing for her mama’s guests. I was seen. That dimpled blue eyed girl on the Jersey Shore running into the ocean and looking like a carbon copy of Tatum O’Neil when she won her Oscar for her role in the movie, “Paper Moon”. I was seen. That outspoken grade school girl that talked to much and raised her hand every time to answer the questions, she was seen. That teenager girl who stood before the entire hire school to try out for cheerleading, falling and continuing with a giggle, was seen. I was seen. To be unseen was not something I experienced. From the conversations and the connection in my life I have been seen.
This past month as I wandered in out of the mandatory stores open, covered up and masked I felt it, “Unseen”. And I could not pass along a smile, or let a little person see the expression on my face that communicated, “You are seen.” I was unseen.
When I was painting this I felt all those feels of being unseen. I imagined what it might look like to create, with paints what I was feeling. And I painted this piece. It was to be private and I had no intention of sharing. I have been sad and crying because I know there are countless times when my own children, long before masks or a pandemic that they felt this way and there was nothing I could say or do to make them feel seen.
Painting my emotions, my thoughts, and sharing some of the deeper moments is not easy. If I could gather up every soul that has ever felt unseen, I would and I would look you in the eyes, love you to pieces and make sure you never felt like that again. Because YOU are seen. There is a God, your Maker who sees you every single day.
“Unseen” is Art You Love by Elizabeth Traub
If you are interested in this piece you can call me: 503-686-1109 or email me: elizabethtraubconsulting@gmail.com
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