One of the romantic ideas that I’m about to share with you was conceived a few months ago when a friend told me a touching story about her 6 year old daughter. Her name was Susie.

The story that my friend told me had to do with the unique way that Susie handled her grief after her beloved puppy died. Instead of crying and asking why such a horrible thing happened, Susie just stood in her back yard staring at the sky.

A couple of days passed and there was still no sign of grief. However, on the third day, Susie did something very interesting -- she drew a picture. I know what you’re thinking…”so she drew a picture, so what?”

“The drawing was her own way of communicating, of opening her heart and releasing love.”

You’re right. There’s nothing unusual about a child drawing a picture. However, Susie’s painting was of a dog lying on a cloud with lots of little hearts flying toward it from the ground. Interesting, no?

The drawing was a simple gesture, but think how profound. Susie poured her entire emotional reserve onto that little canvas and managed to say more with that one picture then she could have with any form of verbal expression.

I suppose that drawing was her way of communicating and opening her heart to the depth of love and sense of loss she felt inside of her.

I found this story exceptionally beautiful and inspiring. I’m always amazed by children’s ability to express emotion in such pure and sincere ways.

All of us could take a few lessons, don't you think?

Susie’s story inspired me to bring some of that youthful pureness and timeless innocence back into my own life. As a result, one of the romantic ideas that I now use the most is ‘art on canvas.’

‘Art on canvas’ is my way of using fewer words and more visual affects to express my emotions. It’s a romantic idea that I’ve been experimenting with for the past couple of years and have to say, one that has worked quite well.

One of my first attempts was to send Jay a couple of messages by using only a drawing, a simple yet meaningful drawing. I bought a bunch of colorful cards and started creating images on them whenever I had something important to say to him.

For example, instead of simply saying “I love you,” I would pick up a card, choose a color appropriate for my message, and begin to draw whatever I had to say. Some of the images were quite interesting, but….

I drew and he understood. It was amazing! I never realized the true power of a picture until I put my own heart and soul into it. But then again, maybe it wasn’t the picture…maybe he just couldn’t resist a child?