Several Christmases ago, my grandmother gave me a model of a small sailing sloop, Bermuda-rigged with two sails forward. (Staysail and a jib?) On the mainsail, it reads, "Don't tell God how big your storm is. Tell the storm how big your God is."

That model, in no small part, got me through this past year. Losing my job, moving to a new town, Mom's hospitalization, and more. If I could only get -one- commission at AC, I'd be glad it was this one. I approached Heather Bruton with a very simple request: "A lion, sailing in a storm, guided by a glowing albatross."

She came through with this.