This book is about a journey of a person looking for the heart of the matter of life. It is a story of a person who found welled up in his soul the residue of one emotional event after another. With the help and encouragement of some very special and gifted teachers, he endeavored to learn how to release those emotions by putting them into word paintings. Day to day activities fill the pages of our lives; however, it is the poignant events that turn them. Because these events hold such hallowed ground, they are easily resurrected. They come dressed in the same images of the past and rekindle many of the feelings last remembered. Some are warm comforting reunions, welcomed home as one would welcome a friend. Others remain the sobering reminders they always were. A special few are as painfully sore as the day they happened. They are hard to relive, harder to forget, and are the hardest to share. Nevertheless, they are permanently inscribed on the walls of our souls and play a significant role in the sum of who we are. This book is a gallery of emotions that began in a young heart, and grew as life and his many experiences marched onward. It is a look back and a look forward. It is also a realization that there is an answer to the question, What really lies at the heart of the matter?