to my valentine, 2018

"to my valentine, 2018"

mixed media collage (vintage papers, acrylic paint, glue, marker, on bookboard)

february, 2018

gregory a. milinovich

valentine's day was kind of tricky this year, since i spent the entire day at the church. it was ash wednesday, so it was tough for me to make it a day of celebration with my valentine, given that i spent most of the day touching other people's foreheads, reminding them that they will all die. super romantic.

still, i continued a yearly tradition of making a collage as an expression of my love for my bride. this was the 11th consecutive year for this, and since it was ash wednesday this year, i was thinking quite a bit about brokenness. and it is true that over 18 and a half years of marriage, we've both had to deal with our share of brokenness: words we shouldn't have said, poor decisions, pride, and more. to quote someone more terse than i: love hurts.

but to quote someone more loquacious: love is also patient and kind and forgiving and love never fails. on a day of acknowledging my mortality, it was good to remember that love never fails. that love is stronger than death. that this love i share, with my valentine, is broken and redeemed, grounded and growing, scarred and strong.

so i know it is a week late, but to my valentine, know this: i love you. and i know that love never fails. thanks for putting up with my failures. can't wait to see what happens next....

Comments

bad haircuts (for a laugh)

everybody needs to laugh. one good way i have found to make that happen is to do a simple google image search for 'bad haircut.' when you do so, some of the following gems show up. thankfully, my 9th grade school picture does NOT show up. otherwise, it would certianly make this list! please laugh freely and without inhibition. thank you and have a nice day.

keep reading

happiness is dry underwear

we started potty training jack on thursday. we followed a program called POTTY TRAIN IN ONE DAY, which, by the way, i think is kind of crazy. i mean, if someone were to offer you a book called, "ACHIEVE WORLD PEACE IN ONE DAY" i don't think you would take it seriously. and yet here we are, trying to accomplish an equally daunting task in one 24-hour period. it is intense. the day is shrouded in a lie because as soon as your happily diapered child wakes up you tell him that it is a big party. we had balloons and streamers and noisemakers and silly string - all the trappings of a legitimate party. but it is most certainly not a party. it is a hellishly exhausting day. as soon as jack got out of bed, we gave him a present: an anatomically correct doll that wets himself. jack named him quincy. several times quincy successfully peed in the potty and even had an accident or two in his "big boy underwear." he also dropped a deuce that looked and smelled sus

keep reading

the crucifixion of Robert Lewis

"the crucifixion of Robert Lewis" mixed media collage with leaves, acrylic paint, and found objects by gregory a milinovich october 2023 this october i was invited to participate in a three day trip which was called a "pilgrimage of pain and hope." while that may not sound super exciting to many of you, it actually really intrigued me. i am the kind of person that wants to feel big feelings, and i am drawn to the deep places, so i was interested in traveling to the scranton area, where the trip was planned, to see what it might look like to be a pilgrim that was wide-eyed and listening to the pain and the hope in the stories of others. this trip included hearing the stories of immigrants to the northeastern pennsylvania area, and the work in the coal mines that many of them did. it included hearing from folks who are working for housing justice and equity in downtown scranton. it included hearing from those indigenous people who first inhabited that land.

keep reading

the unlikely orange

Search This Blog