I don’t know about you, but my world seems to be woven together in many intricate layers. Threads, seemingly unrelated, yet woven together to make the tapestry of my life. A tapestry that contains so many different elements, all at the same time: amid the joy there may be sorrow, with the simple there’s the complex, the bitter meets the sweet, and the welcoming of the new often seems to happen right alongside with letting go of what has been. Life is such a mixture.
When I think of my life as a tapestry, I am awed at the fact that there are no two tapestries alike, no one else has my tapestry or ever will. I love thinking about all the threads of my life. My family and my friends, my faith and my church, my business, my pets, all are so important. Even the familiar faces in the places I shop…threads…all woven together over time to create something wonderfully unique and original.
At this season of the year, following the busy-ness of the holidays, it’s not unusual to find me slowing down, reflecting on my tapestry, the threads of the past year, and pondering the future ones. Threads I’m thankful for, threads I want to change, threads I want to keep, threads I need to let go. I think about who and what I have been weaving into my tapestry this past year, and who and what will I be weaving this year? I try to do this kind of regrouping throughout the year, not just at its end or the beginning of a new one, to see if I’m on track, if my life is lining up to the values I hold most dear and with the people I hold most dear. If I could make ten of me, I would. There are so many people with whom I want to spend time, friends I want to see; places where I want to give of myself, my time, my love. But I must choose carefully since, alas, there is only one of me after all.
This New Year, I thought I’d take a moment to share a few special threads from this past year.
A new thread: My daughter, Michelle, and my son-in-law, Max, back from Australia, and oh what a wonderful thread to weave! For the past few years, with them so far away, their thread felt bittersweet to me, and today, well, today it’s just sweet.
A new thread: David’s new work. I see new colors swirling – bright and vibrant there now, where once they were more muted. It’s lovely, and his excitement is contagious.
A new thread: The beginning of a new life. Ashley and Drew having a baby, and the thoughts of what it means to start a whole new generation – amazing, significant thoughts that are all about the future. I’ll look at this thread for the rest of my life, smiling when I think about Ashley and my double hug – how hugging her has meant hugging two.
A thread of letting go: I lost people who were dear, and I find myself seeing them in places that are so unexpected, touches of them in places that are so sweet, and are also heart-aching reminders of how much they are missed.
There’s the thread of some precious ladies in my life! That thread serves as a reminder that starts me thinking about them, and that leads me to find a way to acknowledge them if they’re far away, and set aside time to see them if they’re near.
And, Roxie, my kitty! My sweet shadow who was never far away, who followed me from room to room. I’m still getting over her thread stopping; I still find myself looking out the window and missing her.
Life is remarkable, isn’t it, the way it’s woven with different people and different experiences? That’s all it is: so very simple yet so very, very complex.
Carole King said it so well back in the 70’s, in her song, “Tapestry”…
“My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view
A wondrous, woven magic in bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold.”
And so it’s been for me. Thank you all for being threads in the tapestry of my life; you’ve made its colors more beautiful, its textures more vibrant,and my life is more rich and joyous for it, for you.
Wishing each of you a tremendously meaningful and special 2016 in the tapestry of your life! Valerie Garrett Interior Designs