- Something of a redraw of this piece; I may add the background sometime in the future.
It's been over a year since Harper was created, today is her officially listed birthday, and in a week or two I will have owned Harper for an entire year.
That sentence alone makes me emotional.
I don't think I'm actively able to fathom a statement that properly conveys my affection for this character. I won Harper shortly after one of the best days of my life, and just before life got a little rough for me. Harper has been with me through my ups and down, highs and lows, and there are only a handful of things in this world that mean more to me than my fluffy little beans. In the past year I've had the worst day of my life and the best, and Harper has been there through it all, her personality developing alongside mine.
Harper's character was designed with one sole purpose - for me to be able to connect well and cohesively with her. When writing her personality, designing her flaws and her motivations, I fully intended to design a character that would be "easy" for me to handle; A character that I could write dialogue for as though it were second nature, a character that I would rarely feel lost with. Almost all aspects of her personality were based around that concept, and I almost regret it, since I've become hopelessly attached to an almost bratty character who will surely break my heart.
Though I'm on hiatus, though I have a thousand other things that I should be doing, I needed to draw a little something digitally for my old lady. I needed to post this tonight, regardless of everything else that I have going on. I needed to post this at the exact minute and day of importance to me (8:39PM EST, August 26th) so that I can convey all the emotions that I'm feeling wrapped into one. I needed to take the time to doodle this to say a proper "thank you" to a piece of my own imagination, really. But she's almost become more than that, almost a friend. No. She is a friend.
I've never really thought about what it meant: a year. Why do we measure time as though it's all equal? Why is a year spent in grueling academics equivalent to a year spent entirely doing what you love? Wouldn't the latter be worth so, so much more?
If we were to measure this past year the way it should be measured, by moments of contentedness and pride and all positive emotions, then Harper and I will have spent a million years together.
So thank you, Harper, for our million years together. For giving me something to laugh about in the most dreary of classes, for giving me a character to channel my own emotions through, for giving me a touch of hope and for giving me something to focus on when it seems like all I can do is bear the grueling weight of the world alone.
Thank you for our million years together.
And here's to so, so many more.
