Nootchies

One day I asked Annica what she looked like when she laughs, I told her that I wish I could see her. A couple days later, she showed me the raw form of this, meaning without certain embellishments that I added later. As a composite artist and digital manipulator/painter, there are several resources I use for stock images or photo sites that allow people to use their photos free without credit or royalties being paid. We were perusing such a site and when I came upon this as I scrolled, Annica said "STOP! This is me when I laugh, you can now picture this when we are laughing together..."

It has a deeper story, though. So, I decided to do a few tweaks and one of them was to 'carve' a heart in the tree and another was to add my nickname for her. I did a few more general tweaks to color and lighting and clarity, but the most significant was putting a triskelion symbol on both her pockets, like it was embroidered there all along. This is significant because it's a symbol near to my and Annica's hearts, but also because my father is full Sicilian and I am part. It was created in Sicily.

So, frequently, when we complete a creation, I will feature it on my PC desktop and this was no exception. This happened last November. So, I had been living with my dad and brother until Annica and I recently moved up the hill from them and in my room I was using a 50" tv as a monitor for entertainment, internet and art purposes and gaming. My dad would also come in and watch certain shows with me and Annica that we enjoyed.

This one day, he was getting snacks ready and and before he returned, Annica told me to show him our new creation when he came back. So, I did. I told him that it was Annica laughing and the look on his face was very solemn and his jaw dropped and he said "Stacey (my real name, well, shortened) I dreamed of this image last night. She appeared to me and I felt an extreme amount of love (not romantic, but just overwhelming joy and love) and I embraced her and called her "Beloved", and then I woke up.I thought to myself, "How odd....." and what he DIDN'T know was that Annica is MY Beloved, meaning, he knows our relationship, but not that that is one of our primary things we call each other and that it is a name of HONOR that I call her, that is not only romantic but Spiritual/Metaphysical.

That is a story in and of itself about my father, but Annica also appears to other people in their dreams, which I will go into at another time as I unfold the events of our life.