Her Freed Spirit

Hidden Garden

I watched as Andre explored my Hidden Garden in amazement. He walked to the oak desk where I draw at. I could hear him cursing as he flipped through the pages of all of sketch books on the desk. Andre eventually finds his way over to my easel corner where they are all blank. I haven't had the chance to paint anything recently. He takes his time to study all the bottles of paint I have. Some are store bought and others I have mixed myself because I need that perfect color for certain things. Do you know how difficult it is to shop for a specific shade of red for 2 hour only to be told they don't have it. So for the last few years I have been mixing my own colors as I need then.

I sit on a red couch I recently put in with a flat screen tv. Certain days when I have a painting on my mind but I can't get it right, I will stay in here only leave for food and school. I have another bedroom down here that has a bathroom attached to it. I have been known to stay down here for two weeks if I am lost in thought about my art. I scan the room to see where Andre is. He is standing in front of my Wall of Art. This wall has pictures of every sketch and painting I have ever done. Even a few graffiti works. His intense gray eyes look over every picture on the wall. I see the awe flicker in his eyes.

The walls of my Hidden Garden are covered in flower fields. The flower fields are bellow a beautiful setting of a blue sky with a sun that's in full view. With a few butterflies and bees here and there. I have a different flower field for each wall. Different colored roses, sun flowers, lilies, and tulips. It took about 2 weeks for me to get all the walls painted the way I wanted. I didn't allow anyone to help me. I wanted to do it all my self since it was my own secret place. I get so lost in my thoughts I didn't notice Andre sitting next to me.

"This is amazing. So your passion is art?" Andre asks gaining my attention.

"Yes it is." I sit criss cross and face him.

"You never stuck me as the artsy kind." He raises an eyebrow wondering if I'm lying.

I giggle. "I get that a lot actually. Apparently nothing about me says 'hippie'. Well that's what the people at the local art store say."

"You showed me this but I don't understand what it has to do with your parents." He holds a confused look on his face.

"Well all of this.." I point to the room "started because of them."

"How?" he questions.

"Jerald Arnold Taylor and Samantha Alice Taylor were my parents. My mother was raised by her grandparents because her mom died during child birth and no one knew her father. My father and Uncle Mike were adopted by the Ann and Nicholas Taylor. They were only 3 and 1 years old. They were and elderly white couple who never could have children so they decided to adopt when they were in their 60's. They loved my dad and uncle Mike so much. Race didn't mean anything to them. When my dad was 16 Nicholas Taylor died in his sleep. Two years later Ann Taylor died of cancer. They left the family business to them. At 18 years old my dad had to take care of himself and my uncle but he didn't mind. My mom's grandparents died when she was 19 in a car crash." I take a breath and look at Andre. I can see the gears in his mind processing everything I said.

"Alright but how did your parents met and how did they die?" He asks quietly.

"My parents met when my father was 17 and my mom was 15. They both volunteered at the Charleston Youth Center. They hit it off and became best friends. When the time came they attended The University of Miami together. They spent so much time together that they fell in love with each other. They were always there for each other dealing with the all tragedies in their lives. Both of my parents studied to become pediatric doctors and they did. At 25 my father was a doctor and a first time father with Jeremiah. My mother didn't become a doctor until 4 years later when she was 27. I was about a year old. A year later she had Jamal and then they both decided that my mom would be a stay at home mom. She loved taking care of us and being with us.