Miracle

"As to me I know of nothing else but miracles." - Walt Whitman, Miracles

Some say that everything in this world happens for a reason. That absolutely nothing is ever coincidental. Perhaps they are right.

Yesterday I met a woman who might just have changed the course of my life forever. Her name is Susana Lezama, and she is a watercolor artist. She has had art shows in London, Cuenca, Barcelona, Friburg, Basilea, San Francisco and La Habana. She won the Edgardo Coghlan prize, and her artwork sells at pretty amazing rates anywhere she goes. This all sounds like the happy ever after of a story that started out as a fairytale, but it wasn't always so. In order to study art she went against her parents' will, got herself kicked out of her own house, and had to fight harder for her dream than many ever consider doing. It was all worth it.



The most amazing part about this encounter is that all the things she told me were very similar if not exactly the same as the ones I myself have thought about, learned and considered. I have noticed this before, when I'm talking to other artists. It's like we live in a world where we have to constantly translate our thoughts and feelings into phrases that others are able to understand. Speaking to this woman, I felt like a wanderer who was speaking in her beautiful native tongue for the first time in many years. When you share a context, it makes hearing easier.

The most, most, most, most, MOST AMAZING part of it all.... is that she is going to teach me. For the ten of fifteen minutes that I spent talking to this woman at a park in downtown Mexico City, she not only gave me a testimonial to provide the hope I have been searching for so long, but she also opened up a new world of possibilities for me. With Susana as my mentor, I honestly and without a doubt believe that I will make it to art school and as an artist in this world.

And that, my friends, is my definition of a miracle.

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