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Echo Challenge Blossom

Friday, April 16th, 2010 by Alyice

Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.
– Henry Ward Beecher

It’s echo time! This time the prompt is “Blossom”. Blossom: to bloom, to develop, to produce, to grow into a promising state. It signifies so many things to me that it was truly hard to settle on one single meaning of the word.

Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love,
and they blossom when we love the ones we marry.
– Tom Mullen

First, I thought about my marriage and how much of who I am today is because of the man I married. Our marriage hasn’t always been easy, but it has always been worth the fight. Even at our worst moments, when we’ve wondered if staying together was the right thing to do, we knew there was no other place we’d rather be than right where we were—with each other.

He truly is the best friend I’ve ever had. He sees me at my worst and loves me in spite of it. He’s never thrown me away like garbage simply because something better came along or life got in the way, he’s never used me, or abused me. And he has always encouraged me to be my best, to do things that make me feel happy, and to love myself—to see the good inside of me. And he says I’ve done the same for him.

The finest gift you can give anyone is encouragement…
If everyone received the encouragement they need to grow,
the genius in most everyone would blossom.
– Sidney Madwed

Then I thought about my children and how something my daughter said to me recently really blessed my husband and I and truly showed how children blossom with the right type of encouragement.

She asked, “Why do you think my brother and I get along so well when you and your sister can’t even be in the same room together and dad’s siblings never attempt to stay in touch or even return calls? Why do you think we do better in school than you and dad ever did? Why do you think life is better for us even when our money is tight?”

Then before I could even answer she said, “I think it’s because of you and dad and how you raised us. You treat us different because we are different but you don’t play favorites or love one more than the other… One day at school my friends asked if we’d ever want to be like our parents. Most of my friends said no but I said yes. I like how you and dad are with each other. I like how you are with us… I don’t like getting into trouble but when I do I know I deserve it… I like knowing that we are loved and you want us around.”

I believe that life is a journey,
often difficult and sometimes incredibly cruel,
but we are well equipped for it
if only we tap into our talents and gifts
and allow them to blossom.
– Les Brown

And finally, I thought about life and how at its best it is a wonderful journey full of opportunities and at its worst, it’s a living hell that can suck everything you have left right out of you. And somewhere in between therein lies the lives of many—not quite euphoria, but not quite disaster, either.

And it has me wondering, How much better would the world be if each and every one of us stopped existing in that “in between place” and started blooming where we stood? What if we not only started believing in ourselves enough to change our destinies but we began praising those around us so that they, too, could blossom? What would the world look like then?

Until next time…

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Echo Challenge Collection

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 by Alyice

“I collect human relationships
very much the way others collect fine art.”
– Jerzy Kosinski

It’s echo time! This time the prompt is “Collection”. My grandmother was a collector of things, my mother was a collector of things, but I was not a collector, or so I thought.

My maternal grandmother collected simply for the sake of hoarding. Her home was filled to the brim with unopened boxes—boxes that made her home look like a warehouse, boxes that could have made fun hiding places if we’d only been given the opportunity to walk through her front door.

My mother was a hoarder, too. She packed her home from one end to the other with things that always came before her relationships. Things that needed cleaning, rearranging, storing, and moving. Things that always moved from one room to the next only to find their way into a box, in the garage, and back out again.

I, however, was neither of them. I was not a hoarder.

I didn’t like to be controlled by things. I didn’t like the idea of worrying about leaving my things alone for fear that someone would stop by and take them away. I didn’t put a higher value on “things”. I didn’t value things more than I valued “people” or “relationships”. And therefore, if I wasn’t a hoarder. I was not a collector.

But I was mistaken. Though not a hoarder, I did have a healthy obsession with three things: books, movies, and shot glasses.

As a young child, I was a shy girl. I spent most of my time daydreaming about what it would be like to find Prince Charming, or at least the modern day version of him. And I dreamed about what it would be like to be so filled with self-confidence that nothing was too scary for me to tackle. I dreamt about having a lot of money and using it to transform the lives of others. And I dreamt about seeing the world—of traveling to far off places, of meeting new people, and of forming many “Lucy and Ethel” relationships.

Sometimes, however, I didn’t daydream. I picked up a book or watched a movie instead. And I lived vicariously through my beloved storybook characters or the characters on the television screen. I could care less who the writer was or which actor was playing which part—it was the characters that transported me from my reality into theirs.

So it was only natural that as a young adult, I’d start collecting both books and movies. I just didn’t realize how crazy of a collector I was until we had to transport 100+ boxes of books and movies from one state to the next. After my second state-to-state move I realized it was time to let go. I’d never go back and read many of those books, and I had outgrown and became weary of certain films. So I packed up nearly two-thirds of my collection and donated them to a few worthy causes.

I still collect, but I’ve learned to be more selective. A lesson I learned from my daughter. She is very selective when it comes to the books and videos she buys. And for now, it’s only good fantasy books; especially those that have been turned into marvelous films like Peter Pan, Harry Potter, and The Chronicles Of Narnia.

Another obsession of mine is collecting shot glasses.

It all started when my honorary Aunt Sue would take me with her antique shopping as a young girl. She’d find the prettiest things: doorknobs, cabinet handles, furniture, postcards, lace, and stunning glass containers.

I loved those glass containers and have had an infatuation with old glass ever since. But as a young girl, who still lived at home, and shared a room with a very sloppy younger sister, I knew bringing such beauty home would be insane so I just looked and coveted.

Then I spotted them. Shot glasses. They were perfect! They were affordable, they took up very little room, they came in various shapes and colors, and they contained history. Now, when I went shopping with my Aunt, I had something to be excited about, too.

Everyone got a kick out my collection. They couldn’t understand why I, a young girl who didn’t drink—and still doesn’t—would ever be interested in collecting shot glasses.

When I became a young adult, I stopped collecting shot glasses. It just wasn’t the same; collecting them without my aunt. Then one day my honorary grandfather gave me a gift—a shot glass from Russia—and I was hooked all over again.

I collected for a few more years after that, even had my new husband gifting me with a few shot glasses. But then we moved into a rental that had no space for such a collection, and it got packed away; a faded memory that longed to be placed back on a shelf some day.

This past summer, after taking many trips to Rapid City to visit my now college bound son, my husband started my collection back up again. “After all,” he’d say, “new memories are being made.”

So yes, I am a collector of things. And I thank God that I am not a hoarder who values those things more than I value the relationships He has so graciously bestowed upon me.

Until next time…

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Echo Challenge Illuminate

Thursday, March 11th, 2010 by Alyice

“Clever people master life; the wise illuminate it.”
– Emile Nolde

It’s echo time! This time the prompt is “Illuminate”. Just reading the word “illuminate” conjures up all kinds of thoughts: to shine light on a situation, to brighten a dark path, to enlighten the mind, to give hope to the hurting.

There were so many directions I could’ve gone with this one word. So many things I could have said and images I could’ve shown. But ultimately, I was stuck on one event—one moment in time.

The day was July 4.
The time, my childhood.
The event, fireworks.

Every 4th of July as a child, growing up in the projects, was magical—and illuminating. While we often avoided going out after dark, we always managed to fill the streets on this one special day. The lights in our neighborhood were all but non-existent as one by one boxes of fireworks were opened and shared amongst the children.

My favorite piece of firework was the Sparkler. I could hold a Sparkler in my hand until the very last second.

I could still hear my mother’s voice reminding me not to drop it on the grass as “it could catch on fire” or reminding me not to wave it in the face of another child as the sparks could “put out an eye” or “catch someone’s hair on fire”—which actually did happen once, the hair on fire thing I mean.

It’s funny how childhood memories fade over time, and yet some remain as vivid and real as the day you experienced them.

Until next time…

P.S.
Please stop by my Echo partner’s post on Illuminate.

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I'm a freelance writer, mixed media artist, SMVA, and the owner of The Dabbling Mum.

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