Savor the last bit

I reached a routine milestone about a moment ago bloggity. I am on the last page of my sketchbook. Number 70. The last stroke of entirely new creation in this pad of paper I have lugged around since October. No, I won't be rid of the spiral- bound book just yet: there are pictures that must be inked and colored, sketches decided on whether or not to save, a folder insert that must be sorted and weeded through before I can entirely leave this dog-eared pad of paper behind.

But it's always a little sad to reach the end of one of these. In my mind I know that there will be plenty more sketchbooks where this one came from, that this isn't goodbye to the ideas and imaginings that make up what a sketchbook really is. But this one, this particular sketchbook is so very precious to me. This is the one that saw me through my first year of college. It has been my daily companion through boring English Comp classes and history lectures. It's been lugged to Minneapolis and Chicago and various places along the way. It's been hugged tight to my chest as I run through snowstorms and downpours. It's gotten me through bad days, worse nights, and the shittiest weeks I've ever had. My fandom came alive in this sketchbook. My creativity flourished Fairies shifted to Hetalia to original characters and back again. As I did the inevitable maturing college supposedly brings, my style matured, as evidenced in these 8 1/2" by 11" sheets. Throughout the course of these 70 pages, I have grown. Lines have become cleaner, details have appeared, anatomy has started to fall into place.

It's so hard to give up one of these blasted things after so long. I feel like I'm saying goodbye to an old friend for the last time. These simple 70 pages of sketch paper have been more than a friend could ever be to me over the past few months. This sketchbook is a window into my musings, dreams, fantasies, and my soul.

So goodbye, old friend. You've been good to me. I doubt I'll forget you anytime soon. We've had a good time together. Au revoir mon ami. La séparation est douce tristesse. (Yes, it's google translate. Don't rain on my love of french parade.)




"She went her unremembering way,
She went and left in me
The pang of all the partings gone,
And partings yet to be."
~Francis Thompson