I love a new experience. . . .

My sister Fran and I spent Saturday afternoon with a forensic artist.

For those of you who watch CSI on television, I don't have to explain what a forensic artist does. For the rest of you, in the simplest of terms, he or she helps the victim or viewer of some type of crime to recall the image of the bad guy so the police can go about their work of catching him.

Hopefully, you've never met a forensic artist for that type of reason. Thankfully, that wasn't the reason why Fran and I were there.

"There" was the Miami Art Museum,in downtown Miami, where we had a 12:30pm appointment to meet an incredibly talented artist named Paul Moody. Paul and I exchanged business cards. His read "Forensic Artist, Violent Crimes Division, Sheriff's Office, Palm Beach County." That, alone, could give you pause.

OK, time for the back story. The Miami Herald ran a recent article about a traveling interactive art exhibition titled "First Love". The idea was for a forensic artist to help you recall what your "first love" looked like by utilizing the same methods they do for recalling criminals. At the end of the article there was an e-mail address inviting you to write in and request one of a limited number of appointments.

You know me. I'm game for anything. I decided to sign up, and when I told my sister Fran about it, she decided to request an appointment as well.

Bottom line. . .what an absolutely fascinating experience! Fran chose to "recall" her late husband Harold when she met him in college at age 19. I opted for the cute guy I met at my girlfriend's Sweet Sixteen party (I was 15 1/2 at the time), who actually became my first husband 3 1/2 years later.

Initially,each of us spent time filling out a form with the Sheriff's Dept. heading that listed items like Shape of head / Hairline / Eyes / Nose. We each were given a thick book of photos of actual "perps". Each page of about 20 photos was listed under headings like Hooked Nose /Straight Nose /Upturned Nose/Close Set Eyes/Droopy Eyes. . .etc. etc. You get the picture and we got it, literally. We had to pick and choose to the best of our ability the facial characteristics that best identified the person we were trying to to recall at a much younger age.

There is something a little creepy about seeing a familiar face start to emerge from the fast moving pencil of this amazing artist. Since this was part of an interactive art exhibit, we were often surrounded by visitors to the Museum as Paul worked first on Fran's and then on my "memory" portraits. The finished original portraits will both go up on the wall of the exhibition and remain there until mid-October when the exhibition will travel to Ireland. There, a different forensic artist will produce "First Love" memories of that country's museum visitors.

Pictured is the artist working from the "perp book" on Fran's "memory" and my finished portrait of a very young "first love". I'm waiting to hear if any of his three daughters recognize what their Dad looked like before they were born.

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