| A single hand writing several stories…
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| We seem to find comfort in categories and peace in placement. |
| the world moves
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| quickly around us. |
| there are so many variables, and unanswered questions. |
| who?
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| what? |
| when? |
| and more importantly why? |
| we feel like we constantly need to pick
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| a side and stick with it… whether it be politically, socially, or artistically.
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| despite the fact that our outlooks and philosophies are ever changing with
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| each passing day. |
| I have struggled with this often through the years.
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| taking one facet of myself, both personally and creatively, and holding onto
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| it so tightly, until there was nothing but ash in my hand. |
| who would i be without a definite description? |
| a tangible tag line? |
| the weight of one question
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| can be enough to make a back break. |
| i picked up the phone and called an old
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| friend.
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| «this is how i am feeling… and i don’t exactly know what to do with it»
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| «come visit me"she said «and we will figure it out together»
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| I packed my bags. |
| three pairs of pants. |
| two shirts. |
| and one old notebook that i had yet to press a pen to. |
| i kissed ella on the cheek and said. |
| «i will see you when it’s sorted."for two days we sat in silence on that beach
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| and listened to the waves. |
| foolishly, i waited for an answer to wash up on to
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| the shore. |
| but by my sandy feet there was only an old rusty bottle cap to speak
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| of. |
| this was of no surprise to me.
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| «nothing is easy"i thought.
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| «yes"she said aloud, «everything is possible!»
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| I looked at her. |
| as deep into her big eyes as i could stand. |
| it was such a simple four word statement. |
| yet, it sat inside me with the strength of dynamite.
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| little explosions started going off in my head that got bigger and bigger and
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| bigger. |
| with my lips slightly moving to the beat of the moment, i kept
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| repeating her words over and over to myself…
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| «yes…everything is possible, yes… everything is possible, yes…
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| everything is possible.»
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| She sat back on her elbows and stretched out in the sun.
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| «you know"she said. «the thing with you, is that you somehow managed to take a tiny percent of yourself, the smallest fraction, and turn it into your only
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| equation. |
| in this life, there are so many sides to everything. |
| and that
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| includes you. |
| you have so many things waiting to come out… and yet you insist
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| on building from only one part of yourself. |
| you wouldn’t point to your pinky
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| and say this is my entire body. |
| just like you wouldn’t look at one branch and
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| declare that this is a tree. |
| but if you add all of the little puzzle pieces
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| together, it makes up one entire picture. |
| but right now, how you live,
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| and how you create, you are just a little torn corner of a photograph.
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| and i know deep inside you, even more so than me, you are dying to see what’s
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| in the rest of the frame»
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| She continued…
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| «a single hand can write several stories. |
| you have made your point.
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| You have said everything you can about it. |
| lay that old character aside for a minute and allow yourself to make some new ones. |
| put them in films, paintings,
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| poems or songs. |
| give them different names if you like… they can be heroes or villains, it doesn’t matter. |
| but what does matter is that all of them together,
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| standing side by side, will make up one thing as a whole… and that’s you.
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| be brand new, let yourself have the innocence of a kid again. |
| have it be your
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| call to arms… make a revival out of it.»
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| I reached into my bag and pulled out my crumpled, empty notebook.
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| she handed me a pen that was resting in secret behind her ear that suggested
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| she knew all along that this is where the story would begin. |
| i scribbled out
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| four words of my own…
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| «THE NEW KID REVIVAL»
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| She looked at the smudged ink, gently smiled and said…
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| «i guess you’re ready to go home now.» |