Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Treasures all Around


 Are you ever on the prowl for wonderful treasures...little trinkets...the mother lode.  Have you noticed that the Mother Lode is often right in front of your very eyes and yet you may be just a bit too busy to see it for what it is...



I love to discover rocks, shell fragments or pieces of wood that are in the form of a Heart...a little love from nature.  My darling husband now looks as well.  However, most of the time...the love from the Universe appears when we are not looking for it.  You can search and search for these tiny little symbols, look away for a moment and Ta Da, the magic appears when you least expect it!


The lens of a camera has opened my eyes to unlimited possibilities...every seemingly normal, ordinary person, place or thing becomes extraordinary when I have a camera in my hand.  Unlimited possibilities...I tell ya! 








I was given the grand tour during a first time visit to a friend's home.  She had so many lovely pieces of furniture and art...all with an interesting tidbit or story about the origin of the piece.  The piece she treasured most was this rocking chair...ordinary in appearance, perhaps outdated for the room as she stated " I know it doesn't go in here but I just can't part with it...it was my first furniture purchase for $18.00 from Haverty's"  She then turned the chair over and the reason it was so highly valued was on the bottom.  The priceless crayon writing and drawings of her small son now a grown man and married.  Treasures of the heart.  I had a grandchild's fully formed hand print that I could not bear to wipe away from the hallway wall.  That hand print stayed there until we had the interior painted last year.  That hand print made me smile every time I walked through the hall.  It often saddens and gives me pause when plundering through an antique/junk/thrift store to find old photographs, albums, postcards, books and letters gathering dust.  The owners long gone...how much can we really hold onto...in the end we give up the tangible and all that we have left are the moments, the memories that we store in our hearts and minds.  Which, incidentally, by the way I am racking up as much as possible!!!

When my children were small we watched a program based on the novella "The Little Prince"  It remains one of my favorites and here is an excerpt that helps express my thoughts about "treasures":

“People where you live," the little prince said, "grow five thousand roses in one garden... yet they don't find what they're looking for...
They don't find it," I answered.
And yet what they're looking for could be found in a single rose, or a little water..."
Of course," I answered.
And the little prince added, "But eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart.”
― Antoine de Saint-ExupĂ©ry, The Little Prince

Here's to wishing you many moments and memories to cherish...challenging you to find the extraordinary in the ordinary...the hidden treasures right under your nose and in front of your eyes...look for "them" and the magic will happen...I promise! 
 
This post is dedicated to some of my greatest treasures...friends and family and to those giving me a gentle nudge back to writing.  LYMI...love you, mean it!