everything I own in a paper bag

Paper is the most fascinating medium.  It can be so pliable, so malleable to the touch, and yet, so fragile to manipulate.  I imagine it takes a great deal of patience and calm to create these amazing structures created by Alexandra Zaharova & Ilya Plotnikov (hat, b&w dresses, bottom) and Matthew Brodie (technicolor piece, top).  I also imagine it takes a great deal of time.

I'm pinning these images on my wall today to remind myself that a creative project is only as good as the time invested in its cultivation.  Every few minutes applied towards even a fragment of that project means something.  Sometimes a cut, no matter how small, makes the entire piece fit together.  That goes for poems, stories, paintings, sewing projects, and sourdough starters, as well.

MIssed Connections

Everyone has something they thought they would be by this stage in their lives, and I'm guessing a great many of those people aren't quite there yet.  Any number of (best-selling) inspirational, motivational, or self-help guides will try to instill in you the importance of recognizing what you really want and changing the course of your life in order to get back on that original track.  And I do support this kind of thinking to a certain extent.  However, my issue with these messages is the belief that one should make definite and goal-oriented decisions regarding one's entire life journey.  (And believe me, I work much better under specific goals and deadlines, so I understand the allure of a definite and goal-oriented path!)  It's just hard to understand sometimes how we're supposed to pick which one of the available life tracks we should actually take.  

There are so many.  On any given day, there are a billion lives I wish I was leading.  More often than not, those lives intersect and run course along with the one I'm currently cultivating.  Yet, there is always an additional fantasy.  There will always be adjustments, and mistakes, and missteps, and unexpected surprises.  There will always be the opportunity to discover, and the chance of complete failure.  Choosing one particular path, one deep set goal, means losing out on the potential for growth, experience, laughter, engagement, or disappointment.  Does that seem a bit too shallow?  I don't mean that I wish I could do it all, without ever having to make a commitment.  There are so many choices I have made, so many definitive paths that I have chosen above all others, that define me.  These choices make up the foundation for the life I live, and bring me the greatest pleasure I could ever seek.  

No, I'm not talking about a lack of commitment.  Mostly, I'm talking about looking at the picture as a living whole.  Determining which direction you are headed, and aiming to reach there when you can.  It's a lot like parenting.  We don't get to choose the personality of the little ones that enter our lives, but we do get to help them wade their way through the world.  Sometimes this looks easy, and sometimes it is.  Usually, it is messy, and disorganized, and covered in a kind of beautiful chaos.  I'm hoping that in the long run, it's the chaos that I'll look back on as means of understanding how I was able to make it where I needed to go.