Future Frames

A little piece about dreams...



The walls of my room are not bare -
Not as others I have seen.
Small rectangle memories,
peer from underneath the glass
and remind me of my ongoing past.

Nieces and nephews when they were just born
Old friends that are lost, almost forgotten
Picturesque landscapes from far away trips
Some poses are candid and some from a script

As I sit surrounded by reminiscing
I cannot but help to reflect…
All this is past now - both laughter and tears -
And I wonder what memoirs in subsequent years
Will hang on these walls to help me recollect.

The future is odd –
much too temperamental.
There are so many dreams
that could prove sentimental!

Will there be snapshots of children?
Of many? Of few?
Or perhaps just a cat?
An old lonely view.

Will the pictures be large?
Spread across lavish walls?
Or simply just taped on a small crowded hall?

I sit and I ponder and it’s then that I realize
I could stay here all day without knowing.
I can imagine and wish but in the end all I need is
the future frames to be happy –
that is all I can dream.


-Sarah Cate

On Being...

p a r t i c u l a r

Important

fashionable

REAL

Interesting.

I kept wanting to write this weekend, but every time I saw my blog I felt... blank. I have nothing interesting to say, I thought. So tonight I sat down and thought about being interesting. I thought about what made people particularly compelling and what I could possibly share with the world that they might enjoy reading.

After twenty minutes on contemplation and no riveting inspiration, I decided to ask my dear friend, Google.

"How to be an interesting person" The suggested search appeared quickly, I'm not the first to wonder, I suppose.

Luckily, the first link sounded promising, 'Succeedsocially.com: Free social skills advice from a former shy, awkward guy." After scanning the article, I realized what I should have realized before I searched. This wasn't something Google could tell me.

In fact, I don't think that anyone could answer.

Really, it's much too subjective of an adjective. What does make people interesting? Nothing really, nothing that you can pin down and put into a definition.

But the thing is, people are!

As I pondered this new thought, I remembered an old internet video series that I love. Jennifer Crandall, from The Washington Post, put together a wonderful collection of interesting people called onBeing. "...onBeing is a video series based on the simple notion that we should get to know one another better..." These Ordinary Joes talk about what they love: their passions, musings, quirks, careers, everything. And you know what? It's interesting.

After re-watching many of these clips I have come to a conclusion: There is no secret ingredient. Nothing you or I can do that automatically makes us "interesting" to the rest of the world. No certain career or mindset. However, I think that loving what you do helps, I think that conforming to your own ideas and not simply following for lack of courage or creativity definitely gives you an edge in that social department. When it comes down to it, though, I think that the old, cliche adage is the only thing that sums it up, and that is

Be Yourself.

Form your own opinion, try new things that you've always wanted to try, speak your mind.

And someone, somewhere will be sure to find you interesting.

Today is a Gift

The past... Well. It's an interesting thing. Some people are consumed by it, wishing nothing more for it to come back again. Some people do everything in their power to not have to ever be reminded of it again, seeing it only as a vast valley of regret - an endless field of lost time and lost opportunities.

Then, there are the few and the wise, the individuals who see their past as something not to regret, but to learn and become better from.

They are those I envy. I strive to see through their eyes whenever I think of something that I have done, or something that has happened to me that I am not proud of, that I never want to think of nor repeat. I try to think about what I can get out of those experiences and then apply them in my life in hope of improving my future, but sadly, it does not always work.

I'll leave you with this thought,

"The past is our definition. We may strive, with good reason, to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it, but we will escape it only by adding something better to it." ~Wendell Berry

Let's start this new year together with a hopeful eye to the future, shall we?

I'm Glad You're Here

A vague wisp of inspiration infiltrates my brain and I eagerly click on the promising blue "W" on the bottom of my desktop. The icon bounces a couple of times while I try to form the idea currently wafting about my brain into a more fully comprehensible concept. My subconscious sends an impatient tapping to my fingers as I wait for my best friend and worst enemy to launch, until finally, finally, the loading screen appears in the form of a large blue rectangle on the screen.

"Optimizing font performance..." Word tells me, in an attempt to make the wait shorter by informing me of each of his actions.

Immediately, my mind is carried away with the notion of various fonts performing an enthralling and ironic drama on a spotlit stage in a dark theater. I begin musing about the audience's reaction to the climax and the raving reviews that will follow in the paper for weeks to come.

After my mind has amused itself long enough, I push the obscure analogy back into my blurred edges of thought and eventually recognize the blank document in front of me as the paramount thing I have been waiting for. But something I had neglected to fear has happened - my initial idea is gone. Leaving as quickly as it came, I no longer can find even the first wisp of thought that once was mine. In vain, I struggle to uncover it again but am ultimately left sitting alone in the silence of my thoughts.

Then I realize with enlightened understanding, I am simply trying too hard.

- - - - - - - -

I'm glad you're here. Please enjoy your stay.