Where's a Painting of the Dawn Treader When You Need One

     Crazily, I don't want to go to sleep.  It has been such a rollercoaster (I know, I sound like a broken record), and I should sleep but Imma start a new blog post instead.  I came up with this idea today and I really want to share it with all of you.

     On Friday night, there was a group of us in a conference room at the hospital listening to the Hospice lady and trying to focus.  My family had been at the hospital with Poppop all day, and we were tired and scared and upset and exhausted, among other things.  The room was  plain and a bit messy, and we knew it was bad.  I looked across the table at my cousin Thomasina (I've mentioned her in previous posts-- she got me hooked on Narnia) and texted her, "Where's a painting of the Dawn Treader when you need one", a direct reference to the third book in The Chronicles of Narnia and how Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace get to Narnia.

     Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace are in a room and on the wall hangs a painting of a ship on the ocean.  The water starts to move, and before you know it the water gushes out and fills the room.  And then-- Bam!  They're in the Narnian world and get to go aboard King Caspian's ship, The Dawn Treader-- a better alternative than a boring Aunt's house (like in the book) or a hospital conference room.
     I've written before about how stories can transport us and all, and I would just like to reiterate that point with Narnia.  Here I am, years after reading the book and I haven't seen the third movie in a while, and yet I revert to the hope of a magical painting portal to Narnia when I wish to escape.  Did I say "Hit me up with a wardrobe"?  No, I thought of going through a painting-- and that I find weird.  Maybe it's because I had looked at the paintings that day-- there was one or two with pretty earth/Autumn tones and a handful of beach paintings.  My cousin even texted me the next day about how she wished she could escape into the beach painting.  Art, be it story, paintings, music, helps us escape.

     One of my favourite things about Blue's Clues was when Steve and Blue would, well, "Blue skidoo, we can too!" and they would do the twist and spiral into a painting on the wall.  I loved when they would go to the felt place.  See, in Blue's Clues you went in the painting, in Narnia (our world technically) the painting came to you.  there was even a Humans of New York post about a young girl whose
group won an imagination contest- their story dealing with being stuck in a painting.
     I don't know what I would do if I couldn't escape into stories.  Whenever I'm feeling stressed out and I have to go to bed, leaving a million things to do until later, I put myself in Narnia and deal with matters of the kingdom that I can handle and control and fix and then I fall asleep.  Yes, I act like a little kid because I go to fantasy worlds whenever I feel like, but it makes my life that much better and exciting.
     Yes, no one wants to be in a hospital conference room when it's near the end, but the prospect of going through a painting, that element  of story I could share with my cousin, that made it a bit more bearable.  No, there were no fancy paintings in that conference room, but I had my imagination-- and that's the only portal I need.

I would just like to add that I feel so incredibly blessed to have the family and friends that I have.  Thank you guys for all of your love and support (also here's a shoutout to Mr. Carty's perfectly timed cookie-feast day of thanks).  I am brought to tears when I think of how much love is in my family, and I cannot brag about them enough-- I know we made Poppop proud.  :)