Unexpected Phone Call from Parents

My parents and I are on a pretty regular schedule of speaking once each week on Sunday mornings, with occasional calls sprinkled into the week if I have some questions or there's something going on with my extended family.

Yesterday around 3:30 PM, my father called my cell phone.

Rarely do they call me, especially during the workday.

Naturally, I assumed the worst - someone died, someone fell, something bad happened.

Stupid me.

"Jase, it's your father. Your mother and I are down at the gallery hanging the show, and this guy walked in and bought one of the paintings already."

Wow!

It seems that she sold this painting - 4,024 Calories. It's an acrylic on canvas work, about 3' x 4' in size. I have a photo print of this painting in my kitchen, as it's also one of my favorites.

While it's always bittersweet when she sells a painting (she loves them all and hates to see them go), her prices always soften the blow.

My mother is a member of the Piermont Flywheel Gallery in Piermont, NY. She is one of the gallery's original members, and has been showing her work there for almost 17 years. I believe each artist receives a three-week solo show once every 19 months in the front gallery, and has an additional piece in the group exhibition throughout the duration.

Piermont is a cool community on the Hudson River, just north of Manhattan, which has transformed into a quaint artist and dining community with picturesque views of the Tappan Zee Bridge, and lots of weekend day trippers (with money) from NYC.

It's the perfect place for her gallery, and the many others that have sprung up around the Flywheel. Hers was the original though.

So, the unexpected parent call, where I always assume the worst, turned out to be quite the opposite.