In 1967, my family moved from a small town in Iowa to a big city – Albuquerque, NM. It was quite a culture shock for me a kid less than 10 years old. We lived in an apartment complex and the bright spot was that there was this kid younger than me by about 2 years whom I became close friends with. I’d often visit him and his family next door, and his mom would take us to the movies, make lunch and so on.
When we moved in 1968, I lost touch with him and my mother lost his address and forgot his last name. For the next 50-plus years, I’d think of him and would wonder what happened to him. Tried to search on line and thought if I could get a 1967 phone book, I might be able to find him. 57 years later, I was finally able to track down a 1967 phone book through the Albuquerque Public Library, but the person there said I’d have to be there to go through the book. “But” she said, “I’ll send you to special collections and maybe they can help.”
I talked to the lady in special collections about my trying to find my friend and she said, “This is a mystery I want to solve!” By the end of the day, she said, “I found him!” My friend’s name is Russell Miyaki and irony of ironies – like me – he paints dogs!
And Russell is good at painting dogs as you can see here. Please go to his web site and sign up to learn more about his artwork. I love his work and of course, am extremely fond of someone who was my best friend in Albuquerque. See Russell’s work here.
