Building blocks

When I was a little girl I wanted to be an architect. There's something fascinating about structures. If they're old, there's a story. If they're new, there's progress. In both there's creativity, collaboration and hope. I used to draw buildings, homes, schools and bridges. More than lone-standing edifices, I drew communities with one building coexisting with the next one. One structure gave me the idea for the next. At one point my parents allowed me to draw an entire imagined mixed-use neighborhood on a wall in our house, in permanent colors! I covered the wall. This was not just any wall. This was the longest wall in the house–the one in the hallway, the one that made them think twice before selling the house. These were my building blocks. I thought everything was possible. That everything imagined could become. It did for me.

I never studied architecture. Yet I still thought in terms of space and composition and of their possible uses. I learned that everything I wanted to build began with a thought. Then there was a plan. Then there was  a design. My building blocks were those thoughts and what I built were stories for the future. I was a writer who, nonetheless, constructed.

Buildings have a special meaning to me. I reflect on parts of their construction and know that one element builds on another and that the stability, safety, beauty, durability and usefulness of each building is contingent on each component being built right.

I imagined this life. As I write, I see my life as a reconstructed and restructured building. There's a story. It's art that I share in the hopes that others, that you, can gain strength from and then be strong for the next person that they may be strong for the next one. Today is a good day to think that which will build the future you want to have. Focusing on the now, have thoughts you can build on. Have thoughts that build you up, your loved ones, your community. One positive thought today, builds tomorrow in hope, in love, in good-will.