My sister in law recently told me a story about the first time my brother brought her to dinner at our house. I was about 10 or 11 and, according to her, I was very excited to entertain my brother’s girlfriend.
Her fondest memory of that dinner was that I had decided to make the dinner “fancy” by covering the ketchup bottle with aluminum foil. I have no recollection of this but her story made me think how even then I had an urge to make the ordinary better, more beautiful. Even then I was trying to make mundane objects shiny and pretty. Even then I was trying to get noticed for my inventive ideas. Apparently that urge never left me. Now I’m creating beautiful art every day.
It was a meandering and bumpy road over the subsequent 40+ years since I covered that ketchup bottle with aluminum foil. Do I wish I had gotten here sooner? Maybe. But I believe it’s never too late to tap into that creative part of you waiting to blossom. Notice the signs and see where they take you. Do what you love and love what you do. There’s no better life than that.
We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
E.M. FORSTER
