Ah yes, Kaiser…the reason I couldn’t paint TODAY. Oh wait, let me back up…it was the fact I was up all night with hip pain (I’ve had for 5 months) and i had to deal with it today. So after the chiropractic appt. (which did not work) I headed to the orthotic store for new shoe fittings. I arrived home to paint, and Kaiser mismanaged my elderly dad’s care and I had to deal with that. Then my dog with mouth cancer for 5 months needed food cooked & syringed and I had to do his laundry. Field emails. Check mail. Eat some dinner by 8:30pm.

Lesson ONE Bijan: People (and Artists) do art and have fucked up lives. There is no perfect life, and there are no lives without hardship. Optimists find a way to be creative and fulfill their creative needs. It is driven at a soul level. I didn’t paint for many many years….but I cook, I creatively raised a family and I found outlets. But there has never been a time, a day, an hour, a minute where I haven’t relished and waited for the time when I would paint. I’ve had two retinal detachments and I literally can’t see straight, have night blindness and can’t see detail in shadow areas. But I"m gonna paint!!!

Lesson two: Be grateful for your Kaiser and always know that you must advocate for yourself.

Lesson three: Be grateful to people like Mr. Hess who share what they can with us. Ask questions and realize “LIFE” doesn’t come with a mentor. ;-)