Friends We've Never Met

A couple of weeks ago, when I was up to my ears in spring cleaning, we received this beautiful painting in the mail.

This photo of a house in the Ventura Keys, posted a few years ago on Instagram, serendipitously led to an Instagram friendship with the artist, Diane Larson.

 Diane of @dlarsonpaints and Diane Larson Fine Art commented that she thought our boys went to high school together.

Despite our sons (hers is the graduate and mine is the redhead) being friends for over 25 years, we as parents never met. 

7 weeks ago Diane posted this pic of her studio on Instagram and asked me if I recognized the framed piece on the wall - a page torn from Coastal Living Magazine of her happy place -Ventura.

Diane did not know it was one of Steve's paintings until her son Eric asked her if she knew that the painting was done by Josh's dad.

When I learned that the picture was just a magazine page, I asked Steve if he had any more posters and as luck would have it, he had one poster left and it now hangs on Diane's wall on the east coast.

This is an old (somewhat blurry) collage of paintings Steve has done of Two Tree Hill - a Ventura landmark.

So this painting is even more special because Diane called it, Two Tree's, Bahamas style -  she and her husband have been sailing the seas and she's been painting on the boat.

With my company gone and spring cleaning over, I finally had time to create a mantel display worthy of the palm trees.

I love this mantel because it tells our story. 

The shells have been gathered over years and years - this sand dollar (3" across) is one of several we brought back from Costa Rica.

And now, this painting by a friend we have never met, adds to our story.