Big Heart(s) Walking, A Love Story

I don't remember the first link that brought me to Kim at the Queen of Arts, but I can say she has had a profound effect on my life, creatively and otherwise. I have had the great fortune to meet her in person twice so far and visit her blog often enough that even Riley knew her face and her art before he met her. She is not only the Queen of Arts but she is also known as Big Heart Walking by her family and many friends. Again, a name popular enough that Riley knows her as such as well. So I shouldn't have been surprised by what happened last week on a night when I was feeling so sick, a night that iMan was out working and the dogs had to be walked after supper which meant that Riley had to get dressed up and come with me. He usually does come with me when the weather isn't so wintry and we have some great one-on-one times. As I was dragging myself down the street he stopped to pick up a chunk of snow that was heart shaped and said, "Look Mom, it's like Big Heart Walking". And we started to talk about the Queen of Arts because he had met her the week before and his memory is like a steal trap. He asked me to tell him more about what Big Heart Walking means so I told him he was like a Big Heart Walking too because he is so gentle and kind and thoughtful and because he doesn't say a bad word about anyone, even people who are mean to him. And then we started naming other people we know who are Big Hearts Walking in our life. Later in the walk he found another chunk of heart shaped snow so he put them both in the hood of my coat because he was tired of carrying them around and my hands were full with dog leashes. The next day he asked me to take a picture of the snow chunks so he could send some love to the Queen, because that is the kind of soul he is.