It would be an extraordinary day if I did not spend a healthy portion of it trying to locate my keys, my work necessities, my phone–and occasionally my vehicle itself.
(I’ve noticed a commonplace linguistic device of referring to widows and widowers as having “lost” a spouse, as if there were a possibility of recovering him or her again.)
People lose many things.
I try never to lose track of my masterpieces, however.
I realize I can only take credit for half of each, biologically speaking, but I hope it is a rarity for parents not to think of their children as their greatest accomplishment.
Children can of course beget countless other masterworks: in good deeds, in loving relationships of all kinds and families of their own, in mathematics and engineering, in written words and artwork.
Speaking of artistic masterpieces, my mother once lost a Jackson Pollock painting, to which she had contributed half. As far as I know, no record exists of this painting. You will not find it in any museum or catalogue. It is not missing in the sense that Rembrandt and Vermeer have left the Isabella Stewart Gardner building; it has gone, gone away. Ploof. Only my mother has a visual memory of it. She is the only one who could take a stab at drafting its card for the empty walls of the Museum of Lost Objects.
Love in the Spaces 
Nicely written Stephanie. I too think my daughter is the best thing I’ve ever had a hand in creating.
Lastly, that last photo, Wow, just wow! Great color, love the silhouette, not even a nit to pick on that one 🙂
Thank you! Still need to get one of my computer-literate kids to help me out with the signature thing 🙂
Stay tuned. My next article for the New England Photography Guild, coming out on the 5th, is going to be how to create a simple watermark. Though it will be for Lightroom users, so I don’t know if it will be much help.
children, family, friends, relatives… great masterpiece.
Thanks for writinng
Thank you for reading, Naomi!