Today, I post something near and dear to my heart. My oldest daughter wrote this piece over 15 years ago. Even when she was younger, she loved to write and it came easy to her. Ideas, words and visions filled her mind and compelled her to write them down. Although she is now a grown mother of two, writing is still her passion. I came across this piece that she wrote all those years ago. I’ve always loved it for its wisdom, creativity, open-heartedness, sense of play and hope. Perhaps, you’ll enjoy it too.

My Satchel

Some see “particles of water suspended in air,” but I see a circus. Big, fluffy elephants with costumed characters upon their backs frolic through an airy world. The bellow of an airplane becomes the roar of a lion before he glides over a fiery ring. Licking his paws after he accomplishes his feat, a sigh of applause is his just reward. My mouth waters as I see the blue bundles of cotton candy floating on the horizon, too far away to touch, but close enough to smell. I have found ETERNAL YOUTH in the sky, and I place it in my satchel.

Some see a withering rose, but I see a wise old woman. She’s seen things that I’ve never seen. She’s heard things that I’ve never heard. She’s got stories to tell. Whispers of the velvety caress of love and the thorny vengeance of hate, tickle my ears. I hear her, and I am excited, and I am scared. Her silence also speaks. It speaks of old age, and unfulfilled dreams, and missed opportunities; it speaks of forgotten friends, and faded memories, and fallen hopes. She is wise, this old Rose, and I learn from her. She teaches me to keep dreaming and wanting and hoping and loving, so that I, too, will not become a withering, wrinkling, crinkling rose. I have found WISDOM in the rose, and I place it in my satchel.

Some see a vagrant, a “dragrat,” or a bum, but I see a book. Two solid arms embracing the treasured feelings within, sit next to me in the Library of Life. A tattered cover, worn pages, and an unappealing title do not deter me, but only set my interest afire. I read stories of love, adventure, and mystery. By opening the book, I have found OPEN-MINDEDNESS, and I place it in my satchel.

So whenever I am afraid, lonely,or lost, I reach into my satchel and find my strength. The satchel is in my heart, my soul, and my mind, and when I am too weak to carry it, its bigness carries me.

I’ve got all sorts of stories in my satchel, and it makes me big. I can find the good in everything, and make it a part of me. ~ Brea Cola