In our current climate, it’s easy to get lost in nostalgia and “if onlys.” If only we had voted a certain way. If only our government had done this instead of that. If only I had more time to devote to writing. Yes sir, guilty as charged. “If onlys” can be harmful to our productivity and our participation in society, but our memories don’t have to held us back. They can be like a museum, telling the story of our life, and we can learn how much we’ve grown. But we can’t let ourselves get trapped in the museum forever. That exit doesn’t mean our journey is over. It’s only beginning. It begins anew every day, and we all must decide what to learn and how to live. Embrace yourself, warts and all, and prepare for the new day. Thanks for reading!
Museum of Memories
I wonder through these halls
to stop and stare at the pictures on the walls.
All my memories surround me
I’m entangled in a dream
there I am learning to walk
that child laughing, a giggle and a squawk
There I am learning how to write
the pencil of destiny sitting to my right
Here I am again, learning how to drive
I can still remember and see the fear in my eyes.
There’s me, going off to school
leaving home for the first time
Very few can tell you, truthfully, they had no tears in their eyes
Surrounded by my past,
emotions swirl together to create a storm…
No, something else, not a storm but a swirl of memories
My life rushes past me like a gust of wind
My face buffeted by memories
but it’s not the big milestones that held the most sting
It’s the little hours
the time spent talking and listening
the hours spent playing games or sitting around the fire
the everyday celebrations, the gritty facts of life
These are the things we remember and long for the most
not the time we got our first promotion
or the time we learned to drive
but the times we learned to live
How to live is something we still learn everyday
From Fingertips to Fiction 