Melissa Navia

Melissa Navia Instagram – Two years ago I started making one of those personalized story books as a surprise gift for Brian. Didn’t know for what occasion. Maybe for our anniversary or his birthday or a holiday or just because. I dilly-dallied on it because there were so many other projects for work, creative and otherwise, that needed doing. Also, the pandemic. The f*cking pandemic that made and continues to make everything exhausting. But even though I didn’t finish it, my reason for wanting to do it never waned. It only intensified. I adore Brian. He made/makes me the happiest and even just thinking about the many adventures we had yet to go on filled me with a giddy hope I tried to be too cool about. Did I not tell him enough? No, I probably did. I’m sure I did. (He wouldn’t have let me carry on about it anyway. So one less thing to beat my grief self up about.) But, to the point…
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Things are as they are, and while I’ve accepted that a certain sadness will tinge everything forever, it’s made me realize that precisely because happiness is fleeting is why I have to celebrate what does make me happy, when it makes me happy, no matter how silly or insignificant. One such moment was recently when I came across one of the pages I had been working on for that book, while I was packing to go to Ireland for Brian’s birthday. A drawing of us looking up at the stars, something we loved doing out in the woods where the sky is clearest. But the background at the time was blah and the stars were not many because that’s what you get from online templates, which made me laugh and smile. So, #happy. Also, I know Brian would have wanted to know why on earth we were the same height. 😆🙂 Energized by endorphins, and of course the excitement of heading to Brian’s hometown, I reached out to @sorayadesignsthings 🎨 for her artistic guidance, and the result is a magical forest landscape that avatar Brian and me now sit in, holding hands, looking up at a starry night sky. Or at least I am. Soraya says Brian is actually looking only at me. | Posted on 21/Apr/2022 18:49:37