Visions

I was a strange child. When I was about seven years old, I laid on a beach towel atop my black top driveway, in the heat of the Midwestern sun, contemplating the earth's atmosphere. Yes, that's right. I pondered air...and all her properties. I remember laying on that driveway, watching mists of water erupt from the dewy ground and swirl into the sun-drenched sky. I knew you couldn't see air, yet I marveled that vapor could cut through its tranquility like ripples through the ocean. In that moment, it seemed like a mirage to me. A muggy, hazy mirage that was more like a dream than reality. It was almost like a vision...

***

Today, while I was working on the computer, Emerson decided to get my attention by removing an entire row of books from one of the lower shelves in my office. As I straightened and organized the books in their proper sequence, I came across a publication written during my high school days. It was an annual occurrence for the high school literary staff to publish a collection of essays, poems and short stories which commemorated the talents and achievements of students throughout the academic year. This particular year was 1991, in the spring of my sophomore year at Western High School. I thumbed through the pages perusing the themes of each chapter. I came across stories of nature, humor and romance. Students wrote about their adventures, their favorite sports teams and the woes of unrequited love. And then I came across my submission for that year. While the other students were writing of breakups, spring holidays, and parents who didn't understand, I was writing about visions for my future. I smiled as I remembered the words I have not read in years. As a young girl of fifteen years, I knew I was strange. But I was also quite sentimental and optimistic for my future...

Visions
O the splendor and magic of the morning's first light
Piercing the shadows of the long, cold night
The warmth from the rays stirs my imagination
As I stand in the wind, wondering about my creation
O where is my place in the wonders of this world
There are so many trials in the life of a girl
I seek out my future and the choices to be made
My life depends on the cards to be played
As the sun seeks the stars, so must I follow
To establish my place for some worthy young fellow
The day will come when the world will soon see
What I've become and who I will be

I had great purpose as a child. I have great purpose as an adult. My cares are more complex these days, as my responsibilities have grown more complex, but I take these simple words as a compliment to my parents, my first role models and exemplars of faith and understanding. As guardians of traditional values, they helped me to build a foundation of virtue, gratitude and morality, both in word and in deed. They helped me to see that standing for something meant standing up for a better world. Twenty-one years have passed since I penned these lines, and although I may be ridiculed for my simplistic and unrefined articulations, it warms my heart to rediscover the basic principles that have made me stronger as I press forward on a path of discovery and insight, even in the midst of difficult times.