Change is a part of our life journey  - perhaps the definition of our life journey, and we must carefully choose where to leave our footprints as we are are today where our thoughts have brought us and we will be tomorrow where we allow our dreams to  take us......

Life's Clippings

When I sit in thought and reflection, peeling back the layers of my life, it feels somewhat like riding the subway train and watching the windows fill with light and dark and movement between stations, like the clippings from a jumble of movies.

My life journey, like most, has been filled with many experiences, both negative and positive, numerous adventures, both exciting and fearsome, and many forks in the road that have forced me to make life-shattering and life-altering decisions. Now, in my senior years, I often think back over the past and realize that life happens like small clippings of articles that eventually form a complete story.

I love to read and compare life to a book. Flipping through the book’s pages, some yellow with age, we can be transplanted to different places all over the world - tropical rain forests, dark alleys, hot deserts, green valleys or sparkling blue waters. Adventure, suspense, and mystery take us wherever we want to go. As in life, we discover, learn and experience.

Music has been a major pleasure for me and I have come to see life like a melody. When a melody is ‘born’ it can fill the world with pleasure, spreading happiness wherever it is heard.  Sometimes, though, it is a mournful tune when we are troubled or ill, but whatever the emotion it evokes, the notes befit our world.

Faces express a myriad of feelings. Life, too, is like a face. At times, the face smiles on us. The sun shines brightly and everyone in our circle is healthy and well. But sometimes, the face frowns on us. The skies darken, reflecting our moods as the rain pours down heavily. Those we love become ill or go through excruciating trials, and life is merciless. Life has many faces, presenting different ones to us, each and every day.

Amusement Park rides have never been my 'thing to do for a good time', and just the thought of  a roller coaster ride fills me with fear. Life, though, is like a roller coaster ride.  Each day, like the roller coaster ride, life has it’s ups and downs, filled with tears, smiles, anxieties, laughter and fear. But what goes down must come up again. For every tragic moment, there is a moment of sheer joy. For every anxious moment, there is a heart filled with happiness. And for every moment of boredom, there is a time of serious concentration. As we travel up and down through life, each person experiences different feelings - some brace themselves for the worst, while others always hope for the best, but overall, life is far from a a smooth ride. 

Balloons, floating in the air, put smiles on many faces. They are colorful, big, and entertaining.  When air blows into a balloon it expands and comes to life. But slowly, it shrinks. The air leaves the balloon until it is deflated, lying limp on the floor.  Life is like a balloon - in it’s prime, life’s brightness and color fill our surroundings, but like the balloon, life lasts only as long as it is filled.

Dreams are dreamt and then fade away. Life is like a dream. We live through our troubles and/or joys, often in dream-like fashion, and then suddenly we wake up to realities. Time is precious, and minutes tick away as life progresses. We must learn to use this time to it’s fullest potential.  The dream must be forgotten, because nothing can be accomplished in life while living in a fantasy.

Lastly, life is like a light. During our lives, most of us are active - we move quickly, we read, we study, we learn, we run, we talk, we laugh, we love. However, when old age creeps nearer, we become hesitant, and are slower, both mentally and physically. The light dims and is finally snuffed out, but it will shine again when another baby, a new life, enters the world.

The aforementioned clippings have unconsciously formed the chapters in my life and the completed story is still in progress. In the process, I am acutely aware that, as life is beckoned in it brings tears of joy, and as it is ushered out, it brings tears of sadness and mourning, but no matter what my experiences have been along the journey, the book has been well worth the read.