HeARTS in Healing

On February 6th I attended a benefit in Sioux Falls for the Avera HeARTS in Healing.   It was an interesting day for me, a homebody happy in sweats or jeans.  Stableboy and I had to dress up, he even wore a tie!  *gasp*.  Too bad we didnt' get a photo of it for proof!

 Held in the Behavioral Health Building, it was to help those in need of their special sort of services.   A woman gave a short talk, which I found to be extremely moving, about her son, about being his mom and what that center did to help them.   

 Miss South Dakota also spoke, as she had been a patient there once.   She spoke of how the stigma of using services of such a place was ok, nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of.   I heard a lot of that sort of talk that evening, and I couldn't agree more.   

The evening also had food, oh my, the food!   They called them hors d'oeuvres, but that seems a bit of a loose term for such a nice feast.   Stableboy was especially fond of the nice girls who kept coming by our table with trays of meat!   And the dessert table was so very pretty....

I donated an 18x24 landscape I created just for the event.   The center deals often with loss, something I know far too much about, so I did this as a sort of personal art therapy.   My piece was done for my Cheyenne, whom I lost almost 3 years ago.   Titled In Her Honor, its a portrait of her of sorts, as it exemplifies who she was...sunshine, flowers, nature and beauty.

I am happy and honored that it went extremely well, a very nice man bought it for his newly remodeled room.  We had a bit of a chat, and I walked away feeling very positive about the whole thing.