“So How Was Your First Day of Class?”

My self-directed Design 101 adventure began today. The text book is Carolyn Quartermaine Revealed.

I started looking at the first photos. They’re amazing. But then, like the child visiting the art gallery for the first time, I got distracted by something and wandered off from the group.

Where I wandered was my own house. In the early morning hours, before the day’s tasks awoke to start their demands, I took my own tour through every room, looking at various items and my wife’s layout to see what I thought. I liked it, all of it, and I realized in a whole new way what kindred spirits we are.

I also realized something else: in my misguided efforts to avoid frivolity and live a “full life,” I’ve been bypassing one of the best windows to that life: artistic expression. “We should be pursuing activities, not things,” was my rationale, “activities that involve the outdoors, nature, life,” which we do regularly.” But as I moved from room to room, eyeing all the creations and styles before me, I began to see that in many ways, art IS life. Both involve creating and growing and learning, and most of all, relationships. In my determination to control life to ensure that we focused on the best things, I was actually missing the best things: the unforgettable adventures that only result from waylaid plans, the exhausting laughter that only comes forth in spontaneous moments of goofiness, the magical delights that only present themselves when you take a moment to try something different.

I can’t wait to get back to class, and to the dazzling exhibits in my text book. But I also can’t wait to continue following the path of life that art and creativity will lead to, no longer just glancing quickly at the windows of opportunity, but throwing them open and jumping through.