Sunday, August 19, 2012

Don't just dream in black and white

Who would have thought that some paintbrushes - old, stained and bent as they were would change my life. I hate to waste things. Re-using, re-inventing, re-creating, these are wonderful words to me!

My first real experience of seeing someone's life end forced me to see how little we leave this world with, a hard earned university ring, a favourite book, an outfit never worn. What we leave behind however speaks volumes of who we were and those secret things that were important to us.

I never knew that my mother-in-law (at the time) who never entered a Church in the twenty six years I knew her, carried a religious article in her purse. She never spoke ill of the husband who abandoned her and three young children, and I was surprised , no shocked, that she kept the dried flowers from her wedding, and the "do not disturb sign" from her honeymoon.

Having these things from her past, taught me a lot more about her. I could better understand the joy of life that she passed on to her grandchildren, and the unstoppable spirit I see in their eyes. Treasures passed through the generations.

So hence lies the challenge, what will I pass on? I read once that that the majority of people don't know their great grandparents' names. In three generations, your ancestors don't know a thing about you!

But the miracle in it is that who you are IS passed on, what you leave can be the greatest gift to those left behind. Ruth's old paintbrushes set me on a path that brought me immense joy over the years, her old black and white photographs were the jumping off point for another creative endeavour, even her often used slow-cooker found a home.

Sometimes, the things tucked away in a box can give Light and a Future to the person who opens it some day.

No comments:

Post a Comment