nun

  • A Letter to the Sisters and Clarissa

    Clarissa-1-web

    clarissa-2-web

    I wrote a letter to the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, regarding my best friend, and their new member, Clarissa.  Clarissa and I were college roommates for 4 years.  Since Clarissa will be potentially living in the Catholic convent for the rest of her life, I thought I could share with them some wisdom about living with her.  I found creating this letter to be extremely cathartic.  It was a way for me to celebrate all of the time I was so blessed to spend with Clarissa and also to work through all of my feelings during this time of change.

    clarissa-web

    Clarissa and I only communicate through handwritten mail.  You can read my last post to Clarissa here.  You can also view more of my “snail mail” collection here.

    I wrapped up the letter to the sisters and wrote a separate private note to Clarissa.

    IMG_8816

    Amy DeCaussin specializes in Illustration.  View her work here, amydecaussin.com.

    For illustration, image licensing, agent representation,

    and other creative projects contact Amy: amydecaussin@gmail.com.

    ©Amy DeCaussin All Rights Reserved.

  • Clarissa’s Flight

    clarissa-flight-web

    After a long time of discernment, my best friend and former college roommate of four years, Clarissa has decided to become a Catholic Nun.  This weekend she joined the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal in Brooklyn, New York.  There, she will live in community with other Catholic Sisters and devote her life to serving the poor.  You can read more about Clarissa’s journey here.  Clarissa spent a lot of time over the last years trying to decide if this is what she really wanted to do, however I never realized that it would have such a large impact on my own life.  Clarissa and I will never be allowed to catch up on the phone, video chat or email again.  The sisters are a “low tech” group.  Although, there will be opportunities to visit Clarissa, for the most part, our only form of communication will be through hand written letters.  Although this is a large adjustment for me, I look forward to writing some really nice letters, and receiving some as well.

    Clarissa and I went to art school together.  We walked across the stage with our degrees in art & design, illustration together, and we had our senior thesis gallery show together too.  It’s an interesting end to the story of college, since we went in blind with a group of other girls, and in the beginning we did not even have the same major.  I could go on and on about Clarissa and all of our fun times.  Maybe they will come out in my blog periodically.

    I am looking forward to writing and drawing notes to Clarissa to send in the mail.  I can’t wait to see what she sends back–as she is a very talented illustrator.  These letters will be posted in my “snail mail” category, and are already beginning to serve as a great way for me to challenge myself.

    This first piece was sent to Clarissa to open on her flight to her new life in New York City.  It is signed at the bottom by my husband Cam and I.

    Below is the outside of the envelope I sent the note in.

    clarissa-flight-envelope-web

    Amy DeCaussin specializes in Illustration.  View her work here, amydecaussin.com.

    For illustration, image licensing, agent representation,

    and other creative projects contact Amy: amydecaussin@gmail.com.

    ©Amy DeCaussin All Rights Reserved.