Whatever Happened to My Red Beret? Being An Artist and Having Immigrant Parents

This is me in my red beret from my childhood painting my family’s portrait in Chinese zodiac animals. The beret is how they say Artist in French and red was my favorite colour. There are 4 stethoscopes. 3 doctors, 1 nurse, and 1 medical receptionist. My family could open a medical clinic, which they did! For 3? 4? strong decades. and yet I have a sharp memory of losing my beloved beret when it fell down into the lower level of a shopping mall as I was looking down from an escalator. My mom swears we lost it by accident but I dont see why we didnt just go down and retreieve it. Or why it was never replaced? My mom felt bad enough to even buy me a replacement now in my adult life when I brought it up, she swears she misses it too. My theory is that someone, (maybe dad) nudged it off my head that day, hoping I would forget all about it and the art dream would just fall away with the beret, but I can’t proove it. My parents weren’t always supportive of me purusing art as a career, my dad still panics every time I sell a painting because he thinks I’m gonna off my day job, right then and there. I don’t blame their concern, the art money ebbs and flows and you don’t want to be on an empty stomach. I love them forever for their protection and they did support me financially until I could find a dayjob I could live with to support myself, but i still have conspiracies: What happened to my beloved red beret? Here I am looking cute at Christmas wearing it, art supplies please! #canadiandream #artist