Sparkle Pony Magic

I've spent my entire life feeling different, odd, excluded, forgotten and strange.  When I was a kid, I wasn't smart enough to even be considered a nerd.  I had one friend at a time until that friend moved away.  I spent a lot of time being ignored more than ridiculed.   I ways wanted to "fit in" but I just didn't, so I retreated into the thing I knew more about than anything, art.  More specifically, drawing monsters and strange creatures. Years went by, life had its ups and downs, but art was still what held me together, through illness, injury, heartbreak and solitude.

Now here I am, a full- grown adult with understanding and insight, but still full of those feelings that plagued me as a kid.  They form you, shape you and scar you for life.
The one thing I wish I would have known back then, is that no matter how it may have felt, ultimately, I was better for it. Better off not being part of the crowd, better off learning who I was on my own, better being a weirdo.  Because without that, I would not be who I am today, and would never have accomplished so much as an artist.

I asked my daughter, my AWESOME 9-year-old daughter, who was watching My Little Pony, if she liked that show. She said " Is it OK that I like that show?"  She was concerned that liking a girly show for little kids would tarnish her otherwise tough-tomboy persona.   I had to tell her what I want to tell EVERYONE:  It's ok to like everything that you want to like ! It's ok to be a little of everything.  As a matter of fact, it's AWESOME to be that way.   The second you identify with one specific thing, you exclude other things and people that you could otherwise be learning about or enjoying.  Be fiercely who you are, but be humble, be understanding.  There WILL be people in your life who will make things hard, there will be bullies, but they don't control you, don't let them make you feel like being YOU is wrong, because it's not.

This is all leading to what Sparkle Pony Magic represents, pride in yourself.   This character, without it's luxurious mane, innocent eyes or soft colors is otherwise just a grotesque slug monster.  But Sparkle Pony magic holds it's head up high and gallops through life proud to be what it is, a magnificently weird and complicated creature, just like you and me.