The worn and beaten box

The age old adage of being in a box has always struck me as something I don't want to ever do. Though lately I've been on a detail oriented search for a new look at all the things that surround me and make up my life- box.

When I was a kid I though, I love to travel, see new places, meet new people, and experience life. I had the hardest time wrapping my head around people who had never left the their part of town talk less their state. Then to help myself deal with this I concluded with the idea that if they all left then I wouldn't get to discover them and their ways in it's original form. Someone had to stay behind and keep things just the way they've always been. That gave birth to the idea of settling down in a place and calling it home and how that could be as amazing as seeing the world.

So now today I've found my self in this crush with old things that are re-purposed or being used with a newer modern look. I've always believed that, 'they don't make them the way they used to.' So this crush totally makes sense and that it's in fashion only supports what I and a lot of people have always believed- Old is not necessarily bad.

All this to say. Being in a box doesn't mean you are limited or unable to grow, it simply means you must be creative. Now remember that just like the space outside the box is limitless, so is the possibilities of what you can do inside or with the box.

What dreams May Come

'What Dreams May Come'. This is the title of my favorite movie. Why do I love this movie? I think the most moving thing about the movie is what it teaches about the important things in life. In life we dream and have wishes. I the movie 'Before the Rain' the main character fulfills his dreams to build a road but what ultimately becomes of him is in the end not as successful as the legacy of that road in which he will leave behind.

This year I learned that the difference between two identical or even total strangers is very simple no matter where in the world they are or how much money they have at their disposal. The difference and the one thing that can make or break any human being in any situation is your support system.

Who holds you up when you dream? Who is there when you fall? Who will help when you need it? Whose smiling at you just because?

Life is fleeting life is short.

A woman in Chicago last month who was advocating strongly against gun violence, lost her son to the very same thing. What did she say in response to the senseless killing of her child.- 'They can't take away the 16yrs I got to have him.' That to me was the most powerful thing I'd ever heard.
 Today I did something I typically don't do. I followed a heart wrenching news story instead of just turning the radio off or moving my mind elsewhere. I even let myself feel the pain of the tragedy.
The saddest fact in this world is that there is a tragedy every second of everyday. Just because it didn't make the news or wasn't a mass occurrence doesn't make it any less tragic. Though this by no means gives us the right to just become unmoved. Tragedy should be wake up calls, reminders, and opportunities to show love to one another. Opportunities to be reminded of just how important it is to care, to show the ones you still have that you care?

Miss-take

To not take something the way it was intended to be taken is the essence of a mistake. Making a mistake is therefor not getting it right.  That's the real problem, thinking that it was wrong, or just expecting that you will get things right 100% of the time. That would make us perfect. I know I'm wonderfully made but I think even God isn't expecting me to be perfect. So why am I or others expecting this of me. Our Great Expectations and Lofty Hopes for ourselves and others can only lead to disappointment. I'm not saying don't expect or hope but be willing to understand that forgiveness of yourself or others should not be something that is a rare occurrence.  Much like a harvest moon is not the constant look of a full moon and requires conditions before it even happens. Life is give and take and this is not limited to others but it includes you. You have the right to make mistakes. It's a God given right or freedom which you should be enjoying. So when next you totally miss the mark think- 'Thank God I'm capable of making a mistake!'. When I started this piece I though oh I should write about how we should learn from our mistakes but then I realized we should first learn how to except that we can, should, will, and do make mistakes. Either all the time or from time to time we all will make several mistakes. So next time you do appreciate  that you can.

Love like I'm not afraid to love.

'Love like I'm not afraid to love.' This was the dedication I wrote on a journal march 30th in 2006. As I read  it today all I could think was what exactly dose it mean to love like this and how to correctly practice this. I come from parents who divorced while I was still in grade school and  remarried separate people while I was in high school and college. Why do I state this, it's because it defined the idea that love can be fleeting for me. It also brought the notion of marrying the wrong person and the possibility of marriage being disastrous or devastating to ones life. These  ideas can truly cause one to shrink at the idea of marriage. Since then I've learned a lot as well as witnessed some truly real yet exquisitely beautiful marriages. Though I'm not yet married, I've come to appreciate the art of loving another human being-some of which came from having my son. Though lately I've been discovering how to love the people around you. I'm speaking not only of friends or close acquaintance but of mere strangers. I'm speaking of the human and very real ability of pure unadulterated selflessness. The ability to go above and beyond our own needs to place the needs of others first. To give even when you don't have the surplus to give. Dare to Love like you've never before.