Don’t call it a come back! I know, I know I’ve been away… far far away.. in the land of oblivion. I guess to make a long story short: work work work… more work.. met the man of my dreamz… more work work work… took a vacation home.. he proposed… came home to work work work and then THIS!!

For those of you who, unlike me, can remember all the way back to the end of 2006… the Hawaii Vocal Arts Ensemble had a Chair Auction that I painted the “Once upon a Tree” desk and chair for… Right. Got that. Soooo the lady bought it for her son and her son absolutely loved it and I was glad and grateful that it had found a loving home after all the friggin’ TLC I lavished it with during the two months I slaved over it’s frame……. and I only mention all this AGAIN to give this story the poignancy it truly deserves….. because now if you’ll kindly reference the above “man of my dreamz” part I’ll be able to finish the story.

Who is this “man of my dreamz” you ask? Great question! If I were you I’d be asking myself that same question… Well his name is LJ or as I like to call him… El Jay. LJ is short for Luis-John, and he’s a Busekrus… which is just another name for “awesome individual”. He is the the captain in my cola. the feliz to my cumpleaños. the hop in my scotch. the blue to my green. the love to my er. the butter to my bread. the rhythm to my rhyme. the freudian to my slip. the sprint to my 100 meters. the beginning to my end. the y to my mca. da bomb to my diggity. the joy in my ride. the jack to my black. the rock in my roll. the purple to my reign. the different to my strokes. the frosting on top. the vista to my view. the darling to my clementine. the carpe to my diem. and the future to my rama.

And so he got the idea in March 2008 that he’d like to find the owner of the “Once upon a Tree” desk and chair and tell him the story of us and our soon-to-be nuptials, and how he wanted to surprise me with it as a wedding present. Was there any way possible that he would be willing to sell it… could he part ways with the desk and chair he loved so much for the sake of love…….

It took five months and some sneaky research involving my friends but LJ did it! He found Carmen and she told him about Justin and Justin’s dad who actually had the desk because Justin is off island teaching. She told him how Justin was a romantic at heart and would more than likely looove to grant the wish. She gave him Justin’s dad’s phone number and wow… now he was soooo close to it…

Justin’s dad is a great guy too. Upon hearing LJ’s story he looked him in the eyes and stated simply “stay married”, and like Carmen said he was more than willing to help LJ out. He sold him the desk and chair for $75 bucks.. a fraction of what was paid for it.

LJ was soooo excited he rushed over to my house and unbeknownst to me immediately began covering my face with kisses… tonz and tonz of kisses.. he said he had a surprise for me.. and that he was going to give it to me on our wedding day! However it wasn’t long before it was more like maybe he could give it to me right then and there… after all it was in his car… but no! He said I’d have to wait until the next day, which worked out even better because I was moving to a bigger room in my house after a roommate had left. So true to his word he showed up the next day to help me move my stuff and promptly said go to your room… I wanna bring in your surprise……..

so I went to my room… and waited..

I heard banging around… gosh.. whatever it was sounded BIG… I had been racking my brain the whole night before trying to figure out what it could possibly be, but listening to the racket out in my living room I had absolutely NO IDEA.

He came in to get me with the biggest smile on his face I swear… and said close your eyes… leading me out into the hall and into the living room to where he said “open your eyes…”

AAAH!! HOLY CRAP!!! DUDE. WHAT?!? HOW.. wait… how did.. where….. WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?!?!?! How did you get that, I exclaimed. There is was, and I couldn’t believe I was looking at it, sitting in my living room…. WOW. Just wow.

I had told LJ about the task it was to create that piece of furniture and how I’d labored in love over it for hours and hours and beings that it was for a charity I did it for the love of art and being an artist… and his response was just this…….

“Little did you know then, that you were making it for yourself”.

Yes. Little did I know. :)

I love this man.