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Saturday, September 24, 2016

Fluid Memories

Facebook has a tendency of stacking up memories and presenting it to you to remember what happened on this date in previous years. Thoughts in me then flutter like doves at the vital rhythms that my life has stumbled upon. A flame is kindled and it helps me to either reassess or to claim the grain of truth of the path that I am on and the destination that I am trying to reach.


In truth, pictures do speak 1000 words. Every single one, no matter where or when it is taken, has a story behind it and can produce in our mind images as continuous and fluid as waters of a fountain. If you are a writer and ever come to a point where you are struggling for words, don’t let that wall of silence block you. All the layers of irony that a photo holds can be the starting point of another golden floral work ready to rise up and face the sun in your journal.

Maybe you will come across a picture where you had orange spiked hair. What were the circumstances that surrounded that time and place? Relay the noise and confusion that is embedded in the capture. There was a story there. What is it?  Tell it. There is a fresh and spontaneous idea in those thousand words emotionally yearning to be told.


Like for instance. The bottom is a photo of the Medgar Evers College Jazz Ensemble which I was very blessed to be a member of. There are stories that are embedded in the experience that a poem, article or song can be conceived from. I loved the photo beside it because I took a picture by a wall with a mic in it and it looks so real. Made me realize how good my eye is at producing visual imagery. The others are from me performing my original music before a crowd of my peers, another in the preliminary stages of me producing my radio show Jazz on the JNote and then another of me singing an entire song in Spanish that I had never sang before a crowd or with a band until last night. All photos show me in some way as a work in progress. Stories are works in progress. We have a story even when we come to a moment of writer's block. Find a way to break the ice and let the words flow. 

What I come to realize in looking back is the strength of steel that is embedded in who I am. I jolted from all of those things into the person I am today. The work that I pined for all my life is written in those images. And then I consider my current plight. Experience is a story. We have a story. Those 1000 words are stories. 

I am filled with equanimity for a reason. Life has been a rocky journey but there have been some accomplishments in it which I am very proud of. I have found a sense of well-being. God has been so amazing to me and I am thankful. Sometimes looking back can draw deep gloom at what you didn’t get to do and sometimes photos can feel as good as a basketball player doing a tip in with the ball and scoring just seconds before the buzzer goes off.


We may show signs of deterioration as we grow older into the person we are today but thank God for where we have arrived. 

26 comments:

  1. We love taking pictures to capture things that we celebrate. Pretty much every day I am taking pictures! This is a great reminder.

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    1. You are like me then. I think I snap new photos several times a day.

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  2. I love to see all the memories that pop up on Facebook. They one that showed up today was a memory from my cruise with my girlfriends 2 years ago. It has made me even more excited for our next girls cruise in 3 weeks.

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  3. I love this post- pictures are amazing things, the can bring back so many memories, make you relive so many moments. Sometimes I love what Facebook shows me and sometimes it makes me sad, but overall I think it is an interesting way to look back.

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  4. Very wonderful post.. i love looking at old pictures, bring back memories and keep them alive

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  5. I love love love looking back at old pics!! Especially just whole actual photo albums and not just online. They bring back such good memories, most of the time!! Great post!!

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    1. ME too.Especially ones when I was little that my mom keeps.

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  6. I love looking back at old photos and old posts. It's amusing to me what I would post, or said .. the photos of my kids can also cause some great tears! - Jeanine

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  7. It is amazing to look back at pictures! I moved over the weekend and it was amazing looking at some of the older photos we came across.

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  8. I love looking at memory pictures. Brings back great times had by all.er I can sit down with my son and share these memories with him.

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  9. I enjoy seeing the memories show up on Facebook. It always brings me back to what was happening at that time.

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  10. I am picture obsessed!!! I'm constantly snapping photos trying to savor awesome memories!!!!

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  11. This is a great post and really a post of life experiences. We experience everything and everyone for our growth. Thanks for sharing.

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  12. I love this post. I agree that I never really pay attention to certain things until they pop up again on Facebook and I'm reminded with that experience again. Pictures really are worth a thousand words!

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    1. That's so true. That i look back and I'm like wow. That was that long ago. SMH!

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  13. I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook memories. Sometimes they remind me of beautiful moments I forget and sometimes they remind me of the things I'm trying so hard to forget.

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    1. So true. But it is our history. And we made it passed it. :)

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