They’ve always said things like ‘Love is in the air..’ whenever Valentines Day is around the corner.  Well, I walked out today and the only thing I see in the air is fucking clouds and falling snow.  Leave it to Cleveland to make even the most loving heart feel colder than Omarion’s ice box.  In any case, I found myself doing the first Valentines Day flyer of the year for me, per a request from a friend/client.  Kind of bitter sweet considering the minute I finished, I got a call from a close friend telling me his wife’s mother had passed earlier that day.  Its kind of crazy how thoughts of love, candy and shit like that can so quickly get replaced by such sad sad things.  I met his mother-in-law once before.  She was my spades partner  and we pretty much kicked him and his son’s ass.  In all fairness, they beat us first (luckily), but I can still see her face in my mind and while I didn’t truly know the woman, it really did shake me a little to hear the news.  I couldn’t help but imagine myself in his wife’s shoes (and I don’t mean literally!).  To imagine finding out my mom has made the transition would undoubtedly feel like a punch to the gut that never subsides, and I’m sure that doesn’t even begin to encompass the pain.  

When my friend stopped down at the studio as I finished the flyer, I could see he was definitely frustrated, angry, saddened and hit by a number of other emotions.  Sitting there, looking at his face while he filled me in on the death of his mother-in-law while I sat with my computer in my lap, a completed valentines day flyer posted on the screen for evaluation, what I felt was definitely the definition of bitter sweet.  I mean, on one side i have a client happy about the finished product and ready to send it to print, and on the other, I’ve got my friend going THROUGH it after all of the events of the day surrounding his family.  That shit is unreal.