Just Around the River Bend

For years my favorite art works were those with light just around the corner. (Music too. I thrilled to Just Around the River Bend from Pocahontas and other songs with a yearning for something just out of reach.) I have this print hanging in my dining room at home:

Fanciful Landscape by Thomas Dougherty

It has been my very favorite painting in the National Gallery of Art since I was first introduced to it the year I finished high school. The print on our wall pales in comparison to the original, so I was excited to drag David to see it when we were in Washington D. C. last summer. Finally standing in front of it with my honey, I was surprised to find that it no longer had the same effect on me that it used to. In fact, my favorite this time around was a very large painting just flooded with present light:

Autumn -- On the Hudson River by Jasper Francis Cropsey

It didn't take me long to figure out why the change of preference. Now, at this time in my life, I'm living the dream that has always been dearest to my heart. I am no longer yearning for the next bend in the river. I am content. I am basking in present light, all day every day, as a wife and a mother. I never want to be anywhere else.