Persistence,
love, family, and the endless circles of generations.

Here is “Spinning Song."

When Ashley was a small child, her mother played this song on an
old battered upright piano which had been handed down. The fact that it was handed down is key to
understanding as Ashley’s grandparents were all dirt poor, and as children
picked cotton until they moved to work in the cotton mills at the age of
14. So the fact that they came into
possession of a piano was like a gift from God. Young Ashely was determined to play the song even
though her fingers couldn’t reach some of the notes…. It took weeks of
determination, and mistake after mistake, yet soon Ashley could play it from
end to end.

People know much about Collins the painter, but few know about her
early childhood. From that first song,
followed by many, she became a child prodigy on Piano, competing statewide usually
against those far older than herself…. She played until her early teens,
when her love of Ragtime drove her parents into a fit [they believed in
classical and religious music as the sole source of good].

So from a simple song comes Persistence, love, family, and endless
cycles of generations.

Each of us has a Spinning Song, something that ties us to those
whose steps we follow, to the sacrifices we perhaps did not understand, and the
love that may have been less demonstrative than our current world.

The fencing in the work is from Collins Vineyards, and for her a
symbol of what we have to overcome, including our own doubts…..and seemingly
too tall obstacles…. which are never too tall in reality.

From our Spinning Songs, we all grow to create our own musical
legend – our own stories, missteps, triumphs, and pain. Yet they all add to the breadth of our
orchestra, what comes to define us, scars and all. And the scars themselves become beautiful,
because they make us more unique.

So rejoice in the Spinning Song, and the precursor it became to
your own life and amazing journey.