MY ROCKWELL

Norman Rockwell painted "The Runaway" in 1958, ten years before I was born. 

But I have considered that particular painting to be MY Rockwell since my childhood. 

When my 3 brothers and I were all kids, someone - maybe my parents or grandparents, I don't know - bought each of us a small wall plaque printed with a different Rockwell image. 

I don't know if I chose "The Runaway" as my plaque or if it chose me. It was always there on the wall above my dresser. 

In my imagination, the little boy was not running away in a moment of anger over some mistreatment at home. 

Nope, he was going on an adventure, striking out on his own. I felt his spirit was in the right place even if his timing was premature. 

I didn't identify with the little boy carrying only a few possessions in his red bandana tied to a stick.

I admired him. 

At some point in the last half century, that plaque disappeared. It is one of the few childhood mementos I regret losing.