Never Too Late!

It's never too late to become

the person you might have been.

George Eliot

Sometimes I cannot help but wonder how my life might have been if I had returned to Chicago after college rather than marrying and becoming a mother in a small city.  The social life of a big city does not enter into the equation, but the challenge of social services in a large city would have been daunting.  The harshness of life may have altered my personality, values, and attitudes immensely.  Then again, I may have followed a writing career which would have led me through a variety of experiences. 

Even now, however, years later, I still have the opportunity to write.  Perhaps not as a career, but giving writing the attention my life now allows.  I post on my blog every day, belong to a writers group, journal and  continue to work on a handbook.  My livelihood does not depend upon my writing, so it is a joy rather than a pressure to produce. 

Many women return to earlier passions ... piano lessons, dance lessons, additional education, small business entrepreneurs or various opportunities in the arts.  It is never too late to expand and grow ourselves to the fullest of our desires.

Our Work of Art



It is the function of art to renew our perception.  What we are familiar with we cease to see.  The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it.

~Anais Nin

When we travel, we usually spend time in art galleries.  I have an appreciation for most things I see, but I do not necessarily like it all.  I have come to understand, however, the more exposed I am to different artists, my preferences change and my appreciation in general grows.  In addition, the more I view a piece of art, my response to it alters.

When I met a friend for coffee the other day, we realized through conversation we had a mutual friend.  I had known the person mentioned for many years and thought I knew her quite well.  As my coffee companion shared how she knew this friend, I was amazed at how much more she had learned about her and in a very short period of time. 

Later, as I thought back over the conversation about this mutual friend.  I wondered if I was not like a photographer, snapping a picture of some one and then keeping her in this singular captured vision.  I apparently had been seeing my friend in a freeze frame photo ... exclusively in the one capacity that I had met her.  For whatever reason our relationship was always contained in only one aspect of our lives.   

When we place friends in categories ... work, church, community, family ... we restrict our view by seeing just one aspect of them.  It is when we experience friends in different situations that we begin to see the art of life in totality.

When we view a person only from one perspective, we not only miss personal diversity, we may begin to gloss over or take for granted what little we do know.  Human beings are complex individuals with an abundance of originality.

So I begin to look with new eyes and listen with both ears to discover more deeply the art of friendship.  I think this is especially true with acquaintances we "think" we have nothing in common with.  It is impossible to hold the expectation of deeply appreciating every person we meet.  It is possible, however, to listen and observe until we can appreciate multiple aspects of those we hold dear.   We are all evolving and constantly redefining our lives, our works of art.