Taking the gift of my parents’ love.

Stool made for me by my dad Robert Ray McDowell and painted my my mom Lois Ann Ely-- July 1949
Stool made for me by my dad Robert Ray McDowell and painted my my mom Lois Ann Ely– July 1949
My dad carved this on the bottom of my stool when I was 2 yrs old.
My dad carved this on the bottom of my stool when I was 2 yrs old.

Most days I sit in the what we call the “craft room” in a chair with a little stool under it upon which I place my 67 year old feet. This stool was made for me by my dad when I was 2 years old, and my mom painted a picture of a tree full of birds on it. The painting began to wear, so when I was maybe 12 years old, I repainted it.

Yesterday I became especially aware of the stool and of the immense love my parents put into making it for me. I took this love into my heart.

What a wonderful thing to know– that we can receive the gift of pure love from our parents many years later. The Inka Medicine Wheel training has also reminded me that our ancestors have gifts for us of which we can become aware and receive– even though they have passed from this earth.

We can always become aware of what we have been given, even many years later. As a 2 year old, I probably had no idea of the love my folks had put into this stool. Now my own children are in their thirties and I am awakening to a whole new level of love that was given to me at age 2.

When I did the drawing series “Things Are Alive,” (see side bar), I became aware of the intention carried by material objects. In this case, the intention was pure love.

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