When I first met him, the man from the past had this original painting on display in his home and I fell in love with it immediately. It's a scene of Venice with the Piazza San Marco in the background and the colours are vivid and beautiful. Every time I looked at it I saw something different.
A few months later, and knowing how much I liked it, the man from the past gave the painting to me as a 'token of his love' (although he now claims he gave it to me on long-term loan - pah!) but sadly our relationship came to an end a few months later and we went our separate ways.
I kept the painting in a prominent position at home, on the chimney breast in the living room, which I painted a deep red to complement the painting. But as much as I loved it it caused me heartache every time I looked at it. It was a constant reminder of him and how things might have been and I felt it was stopping me from moving on.
It's fair to say that our relationship history is tied up with the painting and so about 3 or 4 years ago I reluctantly sent it back to him. I was sad to see it go, but at the time it seemed like the right thing to do.
Of course when I recently went to visit him for the weekend there it was on the wall, just as beautiful as I remembered it.
And before you ask, he's already told me I'm not getting it back again :-(
This blog post had been inspired by Midlife Singlemum and her fascinating #ArtIHeart series.
