I recently encountered the best piece of artwork that I ever have in my life. Not your typical art work. It was a piece of computer paper, with crayon scribbles, a few faces, and my name on it. Sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? Well I thought so, and so did my three year old niece. My niece, Elise is my favorite person in the world. She never fails to make me grin from ear to ear. Being away from home, of all people, I miss her most while here at school. Well, she started preschool this year, and she thinks she is pretty big stuff. She loves it, and always tells me the greatest stories about her friends, teachers, her dinosaurs, and songs she learns. Well a few weeks ago, I came home for the weekend and spent some quality time with Elise. While I was there, she gave me a picture she had drawn me in school, and it brought tears to my eyes. There is a scribbled rainbow, sunshine, and little flower like objects. The giant round head, with two dots vertically placed as eyes, the curly long hair, and the pink dress. It was the most beautiful portrait I have ever seen of myself. She went on for about 20 minutes telling me all about the picture. It was her and I playing with the princesses in the cave. She told me she misses playing with me at “Mimi’s” ( my moms house). The funny thing is- she was supposed to be finger painting in class that day, but she refused to get her hands dirty, so she used crayons to draw this picture for me. I can only wish I had half the imagination she does. Such a young, lively heart and soul, she sees the world as all rainbows, princesses, and sunshine. Her stories are art to me, as I try to imagine what a beautiful world she sees in her head. But a silly piece of paper and crayon created the most beautiful drawing that touched my heart. I bought a frame for it, and I can not wait to hang it up. This piece of art makes me grateful for the little things in life. If only for a minute I can remember that life is all sunshine and rainbows, maybe I’ll be better off. My niece gives me a reason to make it through each day, and I am so happy she created this picture for me to look at every day, even though I don’t get to see her bright smile, and hear her beautiful stories anymore. This piece of art for me has so much meaning. I can hear her little voice telling me exactly what we were doing, and where we were. I have somewhat limited encounters with artwork, and usually I find art among the things that were never intended to be beautiful. As far as I am concerned, if something makes me feel or think some way, it is art, and it is beautiful.