My top 3 favorite movies throughout my childhood were The Wizard of Oz, Pocahontas and Selena, in that order. I was alllll about Dorothy and her journey to Emerald City. Flying monkeys included. At the peek of my obsession, my family lived on our farm about 5 miles west of town. (For those of you new to the scene, I spent the first 15 years of my life in Gruver, TX. google the population.) My dad drove me 90 miles to see the Wizard of Oz live. My mom made me a yellow brick road in the front yard. I skipped, sang, and clicked my little ruby red heels until they didn't fit my feet anymore. It's a cinematic sort of memory, and chances are it didn't happen the way I remember. But that's what I remember.

Fast forward 25ish years. I have a 5 year old sister named Charlie. She has blue eyes, fair skin and strawberry blonde hair. We may be opposites physically, but I see me in her sometimes. Particularly when she's emotional. (I was an emotional kid, and now I'm an emotional adult). She is lost in her colorful mind 90% of the time, to which I can also relate. She loves Dorothy and Glinda and Kansas. She's even spending her summer there with our dad, brother, and her mom. In a house named Glinda. With a gigantic Glinda hanging on the wall that I painted last week.

GLINDA THE GOOD WITCH