BFF's - a shout-out to Cheryl Cochran :)

I can’t believe I’m blogging so soon! What happened to Little Miss PerFUCT the procrastinator? Little Miss PerFUCT with the Aquarian moon in her chart which makes her so fickle and flighty and inconsistent? Her diligent Virgo sun must be taking over, for she is finally able to get some much-needed writing done! And the topic of today, while still riding the gratitude bandwagon, is BFF’s, or Best Friends Forever.

Cheryl Cochran (formerly Cheryl Sneathern) has been my dear BFF since 1992 when we rode the bus together in 7^th grade. We lived in the same neighborhood, less than a quarter of a mile apart, thus meeting at the intersection daily to walk to the bus stop together, and parting ways at the end of the afternoon to return to our respective homes. It was a time-tested ritual that built a life-long friendship and a kindred soul-connection that moves me to tears as I write this. 

I’ve never been close to women. An endless string of feminine fall-outs, sometimes dramatic and explosive, sometimes poisonously silent and insidious, have plagued me throughout my teens, 20’s, and 30’s. I take full responsibility for being an incredibly difficult person to get close to. I’m frustratingly fickle, hypocritical, judgmental, oblivious, and frequently narcissistic. I’m also forgiving, compassionate, eternally optimistic, wildly enthusiastic, and infinitely loving. My good points will continue to outshine my shortcomings, and yet keeping female friends (not making—I’ve always been a fast and furious friend-maker) has been something that I am often astonished I cannot accomplish. 

Thus begins my tribute to Cheryl Cochran. We have maintained our divine friendship for twenty years and it is still going strong. The reason I had to sit down and blog about her is because she just emailed me the logo for my latest creative venture. Cheryl is an artist; a ridiculously talented visual artist (among other mediums which will soon be released to the world) who creates graphic designs and branding schemes that launch empires. She is launching my empire—a spiritual artistic studio called Create To Heal, which will go public at the start of 2013. Cheryl has designed logos and websites for nearly a decade, working independently and choosing her clients carefully. She created her own design firm, Cheryl Cochran Graphic Design, and was an instrumental part of launching LOFT ensemble, the theatre company I started in 2007. Naturally when I came up with the idea to launch a new creative studio, I called her and asked her to help me visualize my dream by creating a graphic that would help brand and cement this personal venture.  

The moment I opened the finished logo on my iphone, I burst into tears. She had created a graphic that not only encompassed the very essence of my project, she was able to visually manifest my most private internal thought-process. Somehow, through listening patiently to my mid-afternoon-in-the-car-rantings, where I would spout my grandiose visions and opinions about my purpose in the Universe, she was able to channel that ferociously unfocused desire into a poignant and symbolic visual representation of Divine Love.  Because that’s what I am—and that’s what my company is. And because Cheryl herself is a living expression of that Divine Love, with a profound artistic talent that allows her to extend her Love to all those who are privileged enough to cross her path. She is able to take people’s visions and create concrete manifestations, through logo, branding, web representations—you name it. She takes your dreams and makes them possible. She listens to the whisperings and often chaotic ravings of your very soul, and applies pen to paper (or pen to computer screen, when she’s using her Wacom Cintiq) in order to foster your vision from conceptualization to birth.

The logo is exactly what I want. It's whimsical, colorful, and fresh. It's deceivingly hap-hazard, while subtly demonstrating the definitive structured ideas and principles that are easily overlooked by one who does not look closely. The letters form a circle and are individually linked, representing the unbreakable connection we have to one-another. The colors are primary--red, yellow, and blue, but come together in overlap, to demonstrate all the different hues that are possible when these three colors unite. And the shape of the logo, when viewed from an abstract sense, is reminiscent of the shape of the human heart. 

I cannot express more love and admiration for this woman, and being witness to her devotion to her divine marriage (her husband is one of my favorite people on the planet) and her absolutely breathtaking little daughter Stella (her most BRILLIANT artistic creation to date!) has been one of the great joys of my 32 years. I can now say I have known Cheryl for more than half my life. We have fought. We have raged. We have hung up the phone on one-another. We have betrayed one-another. We have taken one-another for granted. We have done all the things imperfect humans do when operating under our most basic lower selves rather than reaching for the divine heights of our soul-Selves. But through it all, we have returned to operating under the frequency of love rather than hate. We have overcome the treacherous pitfalls of feminine jealousy, competition, and control (all manifestations of that basic and deadly emotion Fear) in favor of gentle acceptance of our differences and constant selfless encouragement of one-another to keep going. 

The kind of kinship I have with my BFF is possible for all human beings, if one chooses to follow faith rather than fear. Her ability to forgive my shortcomings, see past the cloudy translucent shower door of my humanity to view the perfection of my Divine Soul-Self, is her ability to see the good in all. And it’s the reason we are still friends. It’s the reason she has become yet again another instrumental part of the next phase of my life in Create To Heal. And it’s the reason I had to sit down at my computer, wipe the mascara running down my cheeks, and tappety-tap away at my keyboard to express my gratitude for what I have. Everyday can be Thanksgiving when I choose to live in my gratitude. So that's what I'm going to do. 
 

Except I won’t stuff my face again like I did yesterday. 

Love you Miss Meryl :D

LMP SELF-LOVE SUGGESTION: Reach out to your BFF today. She's important. She believes in you and she'd love to hear your voice.

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This is Cheryl's design firm:

www.CCGD.com
Cheryl Cochran Graphic Design.
LOGOS | GRAPHIC DESIGN | BRAND CONSULTING | CREATIVE THOUGHT