You’re a good man

Summer is the local season for road construction, and the route I usually take to my yoga classes is officially all torn up.  This morning, I decided to try an alternate path; and while the new set of roads wasn’t much better than the original, I did pass by a statue that caused me to pull over, park my car, get out, and take this picture:

Charles Schultz lived in the area for many years, and shortly after he died (in 2000) a community celebration of his life was organized, via these statutes.  The way it worked was that businesses, artists, and other groups in the community were invited to decorate white fiberglass Peanuts characters, with the intention that the finished statue would represent the individual or organization in some way.

This public art installation went on for several years, and as a result at one point hundreds of these statues were scattered around the city.  In the mid-to-late 2000s most of the statues were removed from the public realm (I don’t really know what happened to them), but a few statues still remain – and I see them every now and again.  However, today’s statue was a new one to me, and it was a fun treat.

This version of Charlie (and Woodstock) also made me immediately think of both my mom and my dad: my mom for the musical quality of the statue (she’s a very talented vocalist {high soprano}, and she saw to it that I was involved in music from preschool through high school {for which I am deeply grateful}), and my dad because the statue is Peanuts-related (he’s a big Peanuts fan.  In fact, every time I see anything related to Charlie Brown, Snoopy, or the rest of the Peanuts crew, I immediately think of my dad).  And any time I get a spontaneous, unexpected memory of my parents, I am filled with a deep sense of love and delight.

So thank you good people at this music store for providing me a lovely smile-moment today!

Stef