I had a Chinese scroll of my grandfather’s framed, and after I unwrapped it at home I was about to throw away these four pieces of cardboard from the corners. Grace asked if she could have them. Sighing, I agreed, thinking of clutter, and of how our house seems to always be filling up with things. That night, when I tucked her in, she showed me what she’d made of the four corners. Peace, love, hope, smile. This is not clutter, it is loveliness, it is my daughter taking someone’s trash and making out of it treasure. Peace, love, hope, smile, indeed.
How wonderfully perfect. What an amazing girl. She must have a good role model 🙂
Abra fashioned a backpack from a paper bag yesterday. I, too, had to fight the urge not to sigh and instead delight in the fact that her imagination hasn’t been beat out of her.
This brough such a smile to my face.
My oldest daughter used to save candy wrappers because she thought maybe she could make something out of them. So, I know what you mean about the clutter. She doesn’t do that anymore, but she is still creating. The clutter was worth it.
I feel like I am in a constant battle with things piling up around the house. Sometimes I forget when I see trash that she sees clutter. Grace created such beauty with these.
You live in a magical household! A place of transformation and joy and creativity. I know an artist who now makes all of her art from other people’s cast-offs. She scours the dump for trash, the roadside for rejected thisses and thats, yard sales for junk — and then she fashions beautiful creations that make people smile and see old things through new eyes. Your Grace has the vision!
There is so much meaning in this. We all have bits and pieces hanging around our homes. Things that are left over from something that we once loved, wanted, or thought was important. But, after a time, those things lose their luster or importance, and we throw them away. Sometimes, we are in too much of a hurry to dispose of things – and even people, who still have much to contribute, who still contain much beauty, who are the real treasures in life.
My mind goes back a few years when my mother was in a rehab facility, following major surgery, learning to sit, turn over, and walk all over again. She was almost 90 years old when this incident occurred. I was never so proud of anyone in my entire life, as I watched her daily fight to get back to her feet, to regain her strength, to be “whole” again. She was a miracle in the making. By sheer will and determination, she met her goal and walked out of that rehab facility three months later. I am not ashamed to admit that I shed tears the first time I saw her walk again. I will always remember the day I took my treasure, my beloved mother, and drove her home, so we could resume our normal lives. It was a day of pure joy.
Unfortunately, most of the others in that rehab/nursing facility will never walk out. They will live out the last of their lives in small, cramped quarters, likely confined to bed, gradually losing privacy and dignity, as well as company. They will become more and more debilitated as time passes. But that is not the greatest sadness. The greatest sadness is that a great many of them have been forgotten, like the odd, worn glove, whose mate is missing. We in this society tend to forget that these people exist. Out of sight, out of mind. We think of them as mindless and useless, if we think of them at all. Nothing could be further from the truth. They are human beings, full of a lifetime of wisdom, with stories enough to keep us entertained for years. They have seen more, done more, and been in more places than we can ever imagine. They have done it all and lived through the good and the bad. They are the hidden treasures of our society.
This year, please consider visiting a nursing home and opening up your heart to the people inside. They need love, just like the rest of us. Their eyes sparkle with radiant energy when they see that someone cares enough to spend a little time with them or when someone remembers them. When you visit, look long and deeply. You are looking at yourself, one day in the future. How would you want to be treated at that age, in those circumstances?
Peace, love, hope, smile….. Magical words. We can give those gifts to society’s elderly. We can all make something beautiful out of “cardboard corners”.
I love this…what a treasure.