A Karma Cocker Story

A bad day was made a little brighter when I received this email, reprinted with permission:

Hello and good morning, Nancy. My name is Mary and even though my maiden name was Bailey, I don't think we're related. I promised myself before Christmas that I'd write and tell you about my story with a piece of your art.

October, three years ago my beloved cocker spaniel died at eighteen years of age. At Christmas I still put all her ornaments on the tree and was sad I didn't have a new one. My son had a set of twins that were almost two that year. I put unbreakable ornaments on the lower half of the tree. Since they were very fond of my dog, I put some of the unbreakable ones down low for them to look at. As I was putting the ornaments away, I realized one was missing. It was never found, our house was scrubbed and searched up and down and it never showed up. A little heartsick, I decided to look for a replacement on ebay. My search resulted in buying a beautiful cocker spaniel painted on a ceramic oval from you. The portrait did not look like my dog at all, but I really loved it and was very pleased when I recieved it. I was very touched to see that you had my same last name and that you love Northern Michigan as I do. My daughter lived in SSM for several years and my husband and I took our favorite vacations all over the north.

Even though it's never really a "convenient" time to get a dog, the time finally came. On my birthday in August, I found a cocker spaniel (the details are quite magical and I truly believe I had spiritual help). I love this little girl, but she is VERY different looking than my old cocker. My grown children were a little dissapointed at this, but imagine our delight when I pulled out the ornament this year and realized - you had painted her! That's right, my new dog looks like the dog on the ornament I bought three years ago. I love miracles and I feel that this was a little sign that yes, I have the right dog and the universe would never let me make a mistake.

Thank you for using your beautiful gift of art to enhance this wonderful world and bring joy to people like me. Thank you also for being part of my happy little message from heaven.

All the best, Mary Bailey Fitzgerald