"i was meant to have this book. near the end of my senior year in high school, i was walking up the stairs of the 500 wing. i saw this book on the stairs, but i didn't take it. this book had just become one of my favorite books a week or two before this, after borrowing it from tara (my sister). i thought someone would come back for it, maybe. later that day me & my friends went outside the doors of that same stairwell to just sit and chill. it was by where we were painting our mural. not many people go there. and what did i see but this book, lying on the grass. so it's mine now. it was obviously meant for me."
I remember sharing that with someone at some point and the comment I got was something along the lines of "wow, you're really weird." I laugh at that comment now as I type this, but for a while it made me self-conscious of such occurences, so I've kept them to myself.
It's almost 15 years now since I've acquired this book, and I hadn't reread it until this week. The message within it began to come back to me after I made that Seagull Collage, because I started to think about seagulls again and Jonathan Livingston popped into my head, and I went to go find quotes from the book to write on the back of the collage. It also occurred to me that I used a seagull picture for the front of my Freedom Journal, with the quote "You Were Meant For The Sea".
So I went into the bin in our crawl space that holds many of our books, due to the fact that we are only just now acquiring bookcases and getting our gems out of bins and back onto shelves. I dug out Jonathan Livingston Seagull, reread it, and here's what happened:
I think I will entitle this "Fly Off the Page" and I need to get more canvas and paint to make more of these. Friends, if you want one, tell me? I will paint a "Fly Off the Page" series and it will encourage me. On the counter to the left of my sink, I will find freedom and experience peace, as I paint for you and for me.
Tying up this week's theme, which happened unintentionally by me, but must've been planned by Someone Greater, Who gives me a loving wink.... and my heart flutters with praises...
(from pg. 30 of Jonathan Livingston Seagull):
" 'When they hear of it,' he thought, 'of the Breakthrough, they'll be wild with joy!' "
(from pg.30-31):
"...there's a reason to life!
... we can be free! we can learn to fly!"
Read the book. I dare you! ;-)
I love the story about telling how you found the book. Because wasn't Jonathan seen as really weird (even by his entourage) for the connections he was observing between flight and thought?
ReplyDeleteOne of my greatest challenges in collaborating with other people is that I make connections that others don't see. Sometimes I can never explain it properly with words. I just SEE it, and I don't understand why it's not obvious to everyone.
Perhaps everyone just isn't meant to appreciate all the stories. Like parables. They're meant for some people, and not others. But {note to self} that doesn't mean the stories shouldn't be told. "We can be free!"
Oh, Anna, thank you! Yes, dear Jonathan WAS considered weird, I am glad you have pointed that out. I'm so glad for your sharing and for finding such kindred in each other; I often cannot explain properly with words and often need PLENTY of time to think and digest before I'm able to explain it. Wonder if that will ever change. "Be free!"
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