Participating in another instagram challenge after three years didn’t excite me; having drawn every year since it’s inception and found myself uninspired. In that moment of introspection, a bright orange color book from my childhood jumped off my bookshelf, as if chosen by an unseen spirit. The palette is interesting, I thought to myself as I thumbed through the old cracking pages of half-colored pictures and scribbles. In the bottom corner of a yellowed page was my mother’s signature dated 1961. This was odd because none of her children were born yet so, why was a twenty year old coloring? (Of course we wouldn’t ask that now because color books for all ages is a thing, now, but in 1961?) Then is dawned on me: it was Dennis’ color book, her little brother, who passed away in a fatal car accident. Tragically my mother lost both her mother and little brother in this single life altering event.

Fast forward to present, my mother is very sick and perhaps her mother and brother urged me to write this inspired folktale for my mother as a gift? My gift Happily Ever After reads like a folktale, with tragedy & sadness, abundance and joy.