Meaning in the Mundane

Nevertheless. What a powerful word. It injects hope when placed after any trial, tribulation, failure, or sorrow. It acknowledges the past but doesn't let me stay stuck there. It reminds me that my past does not dictate my future, that none of my failures indicate that I will never succeed, that even in weakness I can be strong. Tacked on to the end of every sentence that describes my shortcomings, nevertheless is a tool that enables me to be kind to myself, to hope that tomorrow's outcome might be different from today's, and to remember that one thing does not always lead to another. Nevertheless I persisted. Nevertheless I stand tall. Nevertheless I have worth and significance. Nevertheless tomorrow will come. Nevertheless gives me hope.

Some people climb mountains by choice. Chasing adventure, the rush, the beauty of nature, the glory, or the fame they go out of their way to find majestic hills to venture up. But then there are the mountain climbers who climb out of necessity. They climb because, on the journey of life, they've been placed at the foot of a mountain range and over is the only way through. The thing about this kind of mountain climbing is that you don't feel brave while you're doing it. You didn't choose to climb for sport or for fame or for glory. You don't feel exhilarated by the beautiful view, for you never have time to stop and take it in. Desperate you cling to the side of the mountain as you scramble for footholds and fight to catch your breath. Rain beats down on your back as the slope grows slipperier. Sometimes it's all you can do to hang on for dear life and to hope that by morning your strength will return to propel you up the steep terrain. No, you don't feel...

I don't know how to spell the word gray. Black and white are easy to spell - but gray? I never know whether to use the e or the a. But maybe there's meaning there... Black and white are definitive colors. They have one shade each. And one spelling each. As soon as black is mixed with the tiniest drop of white, it is considered gray. Similarly the tiniest bit of black turns white to gray. Appropriately, gray, which comes in many different shades, also has more than one spelling. Gray is neither up nor down. Neither here nor there. Neither right nor wrong. It's inbetweenness is what makes gray gray. Or grey grey...? The people I look up to and hope to emulate the most are those who know how to live in the gray. Certainly there are some things in life that truly ARE black or white. But there are so many people who make up blacks and whites about the way other people behave and live -- blacks and whites that don't belong in gray areas. But then you come across the rar...

I work as an office administrator in a busy doctor's office. Creating and maintaining order in chaos is my job. With so much to keep track of, forgetting happens frequently. My forgetting can negatively impact our patients as well as my coworkers. DAILY some piece of information or other slips through the cracks in my brain and falls into the abyss of forgotten information from whence it cannot be retrieved. Occasionally I can bungee jump down into the abyss and bring up small loads of previously forgotten information. But for the most part, once it's fallen down there, there's no retrieving it. But where is the meaning behind all of this forgetting? It means that I am human. And maybe that's all that it means. My forgetting doesn't mean that I don't care. It doesn't mean I'm not working hard. It just means that my brain has limited storage space. Because I'm human. Maybe to be human is just to experience forgetting sometimes.

The words are stuck today Like gum in a child's hair Like chewing gum in a tangled, mangled mess of a child's hair. The words feel dull today Like rain on a gloomy day Like rain on a very grey, overcast, colorless day. The words are asleep today Like a bear in hibernation Like a bear in a deep and unwakeable hibernation. The words won't play today Like children who have a fever Like very sick children in bed with a terrible fever. The words are stuck The words feel dull The words are asleep The word won't play The words are just stuck today

I cannot focus today. All the stuff in my brain is in the way. I cannot work today. Can't keep track of it all, my brain is too small. I cannot smile today. The world is weighing me down. I've got to get out of this town. Got to run with the wind at my back through the fields Got to swim in the clearest crisp waters Got to ride on horseback through the cool green woods Got to feel, got to live, got to be No more of this stress No more of the hurry No more of the ever-persistent worry I just want to fly I just want to soar Higher than ever I've soared before O'er puffy white clouds Past migrating geese I want to splash down into salt water seas Want to swim with sea turtles, Slide with grey seals I just want to know how all of this feels. I cannot stay here today. All the dreams in my head cause my thoughts to stray I cannot focus today. I'll daydream the day away.

I'd like to sail away today on a ship run on stardust and rainbows We'd sail along o'er sparkling seas Where dolphins and whales dance about Occasional mermaids are spotted afar as they leap from the sea out into the sun. We'd anchor the ship along islands where bright colored butterflies flutter through tropical leaves Lizards would live there The friendliest kind Whose scales are soft And whose colors are vibrant They'd gracefully glide 'cross the sand on the beach Stopping to hide 'neath the shade of the palms Occasional crabs would poke out their heads And they'd grab at the seagull's food with their claws. Then back to their homes they would creep with their loot And the seagulls would caw and mourn their lost meal as they circled about in the clear blue sky, diving down toward the water when silver fish lept In the shimmering waves of the crisp cool sea And the warmth of the sand would feel nice neath my b...