Growing up, my mom always let me express myself creatively. I appreciate that more and more as I get older and see a lot of people I know don’t have a creative bone in their bodies. She would always do crafts with us, take us to new places, let us try new things and, most importantly, encourage us to be different. Although she did not fully support my older sister dying her pretty blonde hair hot pink, green or blue while in middle and high school, she let her do it anyway so she could figure herself out. She let my little sister find herself through music by buying her almost any instrument she wanted so she could try it. With me, I have always been more of a crafty person trying to figure out ways to D.I.Y. something other people would just buy in the store.

Last week, my mom and I signed up for a painting class. Located in a pretty barn strung with lights, we sat down with hot coffee and a freshly made apple cider donut to begin painting our masterpieces. The subjects for the canvas were two pumpkins with pretty paper coming out from the inside. The instructor began by telling everyone to paint the backgrounds a light blue. I chose not to do this because I wanted to make mine unique to my own style — I went with purple. As the class went on, my mom and I found ourselves laughing at how others in the class were having a hard time with almost every aspect of the project. We knew we shouldn’t laugh because everyone has their own skills, but to be honest, some participants’ paintings looked like a child used their fingers to paint. It was too funny not to laugh.

The class continued, and we put our own spins on our finished projects, and they turned out great. The instructors came over and pointed out how different ours were, and others in the class came over to look and tell us they looked awesome. I accidentally caused a mini uproar as others in the class said they wished they thought to do it a little more differently. It feels good to hear that from strangers. We took some photos and headed home, still laughing about what happened throughout the class.

I appreciate that my mom taught me to think outside of the box, not to be afraid to try new things and to laugh and find humor in almost everything. When I talk to some of my friends, their parents never taught them these things, so I value it that much more. Being different in a world of everyone trying to be the same or do the same thing is refreshing. Thanks, Mom!

— Audrey Lee, intern