Humor Love Tranquility

Tonight as I headed to bed I wanted to write. But I was not sure I had anything of any value to say. I felt uninspired. So just as I was about to give up for the night and give myself permission to skip a night of writing, I looked around my bedroom. I looked over at the shelves full of photo albums. I saw a box of photographs I made copies of and have yet to organize. There are numerous photographs in my bedroom. A few are in nice frames on the chest and wall. Several are tucked into the frame of the mirror where I get ready each morning. Then there are eight that I placed into two framed collages that I hung on the wall above my bed’s headboard. I looked up at those collages tonight and realized I had found my inspiration for tonight’s writing time.

Within the collage there are a few nature shots. One is a pretty picture of some Brown-Eyed Susans. I remember selecting that picture because the yellow of the flowers was beautifully bright against the pale blue walls of my newly painted room. Another picture shows some red berries. I remember picking that kind of berry when I was a child making mudpies and “soup” for my dolls. Another is a picture of some pine boughs, a typical sight but one I love. There there is the shot of some trees in silhouette. Those particular trees are my favorites. I snap pictures of them against the August sunsets at camp each summer. There’s also a picture of my favorite mountain range and the lake in front of it. On the lake, paddling out to the sunset, are my husband and I in our kayaks.

Another picture shows my husband and children snowshoeing with my dog Charlie following them. As usual, I had Charlie on a leash for our trek and I snapped the picture of us all heading out on one of the trails out behind our house. Snowshoeing in the woods behind my house is one of my favorite things to do.

At the top of one of the collages is a picture of my son on the morning after he made his first Holy Communion and Confirmation. Dressed in his new suit and looking extremely handsome, my second-grade son began dancing and I caught him in one of his dance moves. It’s hilarious.

Finally there is a picture of my son and daughter jumping off the dock at camp, each with an inner tube wrapped around their middles. They are looking at each other as they jump and I see nothing but joy and their closeness every time I look at the picture. It reminds me of the way in which my children have always been one another’s best friends.

The photographs above my bed are reminders of the beauty and peace to be found in nature and in the time spent with family. Humor. Love. Tranquility. It’s no wonder I selected these pictures to greet me each morning as I wake and to calm me each evening as I head to bed. How could I ever be uninspired to write when I have these reminders of my life’s greatest inspirations staring directly at me?

And just you wait until I speak of the pictures tucked into the frame of the mirror above my bureau!