August 1, 2012
Subject: “Bare Bones” is back home… Thank you Harris & Jeri…
Dear Friends:
Well, “Bare Bones” is back home and hanging in the music room….. Six 
months before her death, Micki started her final painting, “Bare Bones”. The boat was a derelict left upon the bank of a bayou, deposited by a hurricane years before. With the remainder of her energy and terminally ill, she started her painting with careful deliberation, and with time running out, she completed about 50 percent of the work before she succumbed to the cancer she had valiantly fought of 45 months.
The painting has been beautifully finished through a labor of love by Harris & Jeri, and the painting is well suited to Micki’s memory. When “Bare Bones” left the house the painting showed that Micki’s final days were coming to an end. As she was dying, her last efforts to pick up her brush and add yet another layer of color was, I think, her final preparation to let this life go, and to finally be at peace. It was her acceptance that her time had come and this was visible in her last brush strokes. When she put the brush down after a few labored minutes, she asked me to take her back to the bedroom and three days later she peacefully slipped away.
Ten months after that day, I turned the painting over to Jeri and asked if she would be willing to help complete the work. The music room didn’t exist. Meredith and Daniel weren’t married and Simon & Deanna had not yet made their commitment to each other. Jan and I had barely decided to pick up the pieces and try to move forward together with an infinitely stronger appreciation for what such an opportunity really meant in our lives.
Now, “Bare Bones” has beautifully been pulled together through Harris and Jeri’s efforts. After over 60 hours, the blended painting compliments Micki’s consistent desire to express her talent and sense of color and balance through her marine art. The painting has been a labor of love from its beginning through its completion. I can’t find the words to express my appreciation and love to you both for your efforts; nor can I express my appreciation to Jan for her support and understanding as we move forward together towards our final years.
“Bare Bones” is really about love in its many forms and the strength of the love that comes through the good times and the bad, the happiness and sorrows that come with life; the deep love between family and friends who are all moving at their respective paces through life. This earthly love is but a tiny glimpse of the love that we have through our spiritual faith in God.
Yet the cycle goes on. The day before “Bare Bones” was hung, Micki’s good friend, Lyle Peterzell, died, prematurely. (see www.coroflot.com/PeterzellPhotography) .
He was in his mid-fifties. Lyle photographed all of Micki’s works. His photography of the Gulf Coast was his passion and his works showed his talent and his love for his works just as Micki’s paintings reflected her passion and paintings as an artist. Both of their souls continue to speak to us through their works.
“Bare Bones” does show us a glimpse of the past, but it also gives us a beautiful glimpse into the future as well.
Robert