This is a birthday gift from the amazingly talented  tictac! I asked if he'd mind sketching me a strawberry as a simple birthday gift, and he went above and beyond! I had it less than an hour later, and it's far more than a sketch. Now the story behind it:

I was having a rough go of it about a month or so ago just after I'd met Tic, and he shared with me something I've remembered. It's an ancient Chinese parable, and this was the quickest version I could find. It's close to what he told me.

A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled; the tiger ran after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him. Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!

From that I took the lesson of finding the good things in life, even when we're surrounded by the bad ones. There are a few things in my life I consider my strawberries, and I hold them close to my heart. This picture means an awful lot to me, as a present and as something with deeper meaning.

Thanks for the gift, Deaf, and thank you for being such a great guy to be able to talk to.

Art ©  tictac (Who you should check out)
Wolfy © Me
Strawberry © Awesome!
Parable © A very, very, very old Chinese man.