Two months later and I’m still exploring how to illustrate time in different ways. Let’s revisit cutting out squares of fabric and connecting them with a common cotton core, stacked strata and growing steadily. Or look at collections of photos, the changing picture planes as a back-and-forth flipbook. We can move up and down, or charm and strange, within the same universe that has Dolly Parton, Miley Cyrus and Jack White singing “Jolene.” A place that shares sunlight with those who turn their faces toward it.
time traveling
Raised Arms
Last week I took 3 full days for realignment, all in the middle of the week. I rested the first day, dreamed a new reality on the second, and separated my affairs on the third and final day. Everyone should be keeping a daily journal - the Getty needs artifacts from the present. The first quarter is coming to a close today, one-fourth of 2020, scheduled and written. As someone who embraces routine and strives to meet set goals, I had to take time to rewrite my internal clock. It is still okay to ask for what one wants, even in the midst of chaos. There is value in recognizing hope and moving toward it even when one does not feel safe. So many have mentioned how they are able to slow down and realize what their life truly looks like lately. It is nice to cast out old methods of working and embrace the discernment of a new pace.
My wedding ring is from the early 1900s, an Art Deco beauty that has time traveled to me, an object that has lived over 100 years on planet Earth as a ring and seen many things on other hands.
Time Traveling
Years ago, I rented every theoretical physics book I could get my hands on at the local community college. I was taking biology and Western Civ II over the summer to help fulfill requirements for my double major. So much time was spent laying on my childhood room floor reading book after book for class and from that never-ending library stack. Most of the information rushed past me, despite my attempts to organize it all on paper. It was because I read to prove that I could. It didn’t matter whether the information stuck, as long as I could untangle what I was reading within the moment I was reading it. I feared the quiet, and sped up as an opposing reaction.
I now spend so much time in silence, and this fear seems so far from me. I remember my foundations professor guarding the silence, making sure we drew our boxes and bottles with plenty of room for thought. What a powerful lesson.