Monday, June 13, 2011

To Look Up for Flowers


Your feet shuffle along the small town old American sidewalk, your hands buried inside your fleece jacket. You see lone weeds squeezing themselves up between the cracks and since you feel nice today you don’t stomp on them. After all, you remind yourself, weeds can one day be flowers, too. And you like flowers. At least today.

So you look up. Maybe you missed some flowers? But all you see is a great big building. It has a fancy name but you don’t need to read it. You already know what it is. It’s been there since about the time your father was born. It's old. And brick. Then, as you ponder this silly thought, like a gift, you trip. A tree root jumbled up the sidewalk in a place you didn’t expect. And you fall.

If you hadn’t fallen, you might not have looked anywhere but forward. If you hadn’t listened to your heart, you might have just continued to walk with your head down, avoiding the root and the fall altogether. But you didn’t. You looked up for flowers. And sometimes, as I am sure someone's grandma used to say, falling can be a blessing in disguise.

The patch of grass is bright and dew-strewn green. The poppies are a vibrant Chinese red and you swear they are laughing. The door is purple. The most rich and velvet purple you have ever seen. And behind that door, the door you might have missed had you not fallen, is a house of magic and a family….are you ready for this…of love. To think you might have missed all this had you not looked up for flowers today!

But we shan't think of that any more. Nope. We want to get inside.

You didn’t know your windshield desperately needed you to push the lever to 'defrost'. You didn’t even realize you were gazing through a fog. Until, you walked in…

My words are little black squiggles on this gooey plastic screen and I will freely admit that they are only capable of dancing around the magic I felt that day. I may be a writer but as daddy always said, no one, not even he, can make a coon dog sing.

Little black squiggles...speak:

Colors. Shapes. Imaginariums for my eyes and creativarians for my soul. What is that I feel swirling around my head, laughing and twirling and pumping my heart up so big that I think I must cry? A little boy with a sparkle trailing behind him like a comet, giggles as he runs by. His mama, following behind him, reminds him to tuck in his wings, that guests have arrived and not everyone understands. She smiles at me when she sees my wet eyes. 'On second thought,' she says like an angel herself, 'let them flutter.' But he already knew.

Sometimes we fall in order to meet unexpected, beautiful gifts. But may I remind you? Of what, you quietly say? That the only real fall is when we forget to open our hearts to see the treasures, the magic that has always been there waiting for us to remember it. Thank you, Kristin. Thank you for all your magic, for all your love. I'm soOO glad I fell.

12 comments:

Samantha Sotto said...

"That the only real fall is when we forget to open our hearts to see the treasures, the magic that has always been there waiting for us to remember it."

So very, very true. Once again, thank you for your beautiful reminder :-)

anopisthographiste said...

What a beautiful post!

Brynne said...

Thank you for the beauty you always sprinkle in my life every time you visit, dear Samantha. So glad you are home.:)

Brynne said...

thank you, Tracey. SoO good to have you here.:)

Bella said...

"And sometimes, as I am sure someone's grandma used to say, falling can be a blessing in disguise."
Brynne, I smiled from ear to ear when I read this. When I was 12 years old, I came home with both my knees oozing blood. I had tripped on an uneven edge of the sidewalk just outside our doorstep. My nana took a wet washcloth and started cleaning the dirt from my wound and said, "Do you know why you fell, Missy?" I replied, "Cause I have bad luck," and she said, "No one has bad luck, so stop saying that. You fell cause you're getting too "uppity" for your own good. This is God's way of reminding you that you need to stop looking down at people and start looking at them at eye level, girl." At the time, I was hanging around with a crowd of girls my nana did not approve of because she thought they lacked humility. She constantly told me that if I wasn't careful, I would end up just as snobby as the girls I called friends. I read your words and thought, yes, sometimes you fall and are given unexpected gifts, and other times we fall so we can be reminded of what we already have. Lovely post, Brynne! :)

Jo Bryant said...

this is an amzing post. :)

Brynne said...

LOVE the story, dear Bella!! Thank you soOo much for sharing! I wish I knew your Nana. She sounds like a beautiful woman. Just like her Bella:)

Brynne said...

Thank you, Jo. As always, your words mean soO very much to me.

KLT said...

Oh Brynne, your writing is so visual for me - my mind constantly races when I read your words. I'm always completing your word paintings & films in my mind. This my dear friend, is what we should collaborate on.... this is our story. Thank you for your magic, your wonder, your amazingly kind eyes, & your open arms. I'm so glad we both fell. :)

Brenda said...

The best part of coming to your corner of the blogoshere is that you always paint a canvas for me while I am reading. I leave her with an open mind and a refreshed creative spirit.

Brynne said...

Oh Kristin...thank you for your beautiful words, sentiments, emotion. You are truly one of those rare gifts in life that change soOOO very very much. lovelovelove, my dear dear friend. And heartfelt thank you's.

Brynne said...

Thank you, Brenda!!! I am soOO happy that I can give to you in that way! JOYYY! HUGS and happies!!