Introducing myself: Lifelong fan

Hiya,

I emailed this to Melody when I joined the raffle, it will explain a bit behind my interest.

I have loved your creations ever since I was a little girl. I remember the very first time I laid eyes on them.. I was at the mall with my mother. She was a stay at home mother of three and when my brothers were old enough to both be in school, it was just the two of us. We were very poor but she tried to find activities for her and I to do that would be exciting for me, so walking through the mall was one of our weekly pastimes. That day, we took a less frequented route and went by a store called Tobacco Lane.. They sold fine cigars there and so my mother always rushed me past it in the unusual times we walked that way, since this was long enough ago that you could smell the tobacco thick in the air coming from the shop and she didn’t want me to breathe it.

For some reason that day, though, I stopped in front of it to notice that they had a huge display of what I now know are the exquisite masterpieces you have lovingly crafted. I was utterly enraptured and I dug in my heels. It took me a few moments to formulate coherence to tell my mom *why* I had stopped, and why I then insisted on being allowed into a store that to her was inappropriate for children. When I pointed at the display case, she herself paused for a long moment and we just stared together. Then silently she took my hand and we walked in together. The shopkeeper was incredibly nice. In spite of my incredibly young age, he let me touch and hold your figures. I was literally moved to tears over how breathtaking they were. I cried and cried. Nothing had prepared me for the idea that such beauty could exist in this world. My mom tentatively asked the keeper how much they were, and now as an adult, I can recognize the fact that she was full of despair when she was shown their price. They are worth every penny and then some, they are literally priceless beyond measure in my opinion, but at the time we never even had enough for food, let alone extras. She let me look at them for awhile longer and then quietly tugged me along, thanking the store for allowing me to handle them.

From there on out, every time we went to the mall, I wouldn’t ask in words, but I would tentatively navigate towards that quiet end of the mall and look up at my mom. She would look back down at me in a sad way and we would go over to stand in front of Tobacco Lane, where we would watch the rotating, glass case display of your gems in companionable silence together. I understood that she wished she could get one for me but that it was outside her means. I never faulted her for it.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I began to afford finally being able to purchase Windstone figures of my own. Now I, too, am a mother of three, and I delight in displaying the handful of pieces I have been able to collect for my own kids to oohh and ahhh over. They give me such unbridled joy. Even on my dreariest day, I can pass by my china cabinet and when my eyes fall on my collection, my heart swells with happiness and nostalgic pride that now I can fill my home with cherished memories from my childhood. I might only have a few, but I will spend the rest of my life saving for the pieces most important to me and obtaining them as I can.

Thank you, from the depths of my soul, for everything you’ve done. Thank you for sharing your amazing talent in a way that has moved so many. You deserve to have your works recorded in the annals of history, alongside Renaissance artists that we measure as the greatest influences in mankind. Your art means so much to me. My life would not be the same if you had not introduced to me that magic is real and alive, and it can be found and held in your hands.