Scene One – 400 West Lincoln Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 1949
“Hush, child, you’ll wake the chickens.” Mokey tugs my hand. The spring-hinged, pine planked door closes silently behind us. Moonlight yields to animal darkness. Squawk, the monsters perched above me warn of our intrusion into their fertile solitude.
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Sometimes when we agree to complete a job at work, we don’t have good ideas of how we will accomplish the task. Or, we agree to do a favor for a friend and later we fear that we won’t have resources to meet this commitment. We may have committed because it’s difficult to say “no” to our boss. Or, with our friend, we may want to help, so we say, “yes” without forethought. Although we don’t have a clear vision of how we will meet our commitments, we start our work and trust that we will receive direction and resources we need. We may feel misplaced in life or work. Activities that previously satisfied, no longer do. We wonder, “Where am I headed? How can I feel better?” Our initial reaction might be to rush to a solution to eliminate feelings of misplacement. However, rather than focus on quick fixes, I suggest that when we feel misplaced we prepare ourselves for a future that is beyond our current thinking and present frame of reference. To reach this future we can begin by discovering who we are at our core, our authentic self. We then live in accord with our discovered core being. When we live true to who we are, we are able to trust that we will arrive at a future that supports our being, our authentic self. Waves surfaced in Kodak, Dektol developer each time I plunged my warm hand into the 68 degree fluid to process photographic prints. Prior to digital cameras, photographers could send negatives to labs to make photographs or develop their own. I chose my basement darkroom to produce pictures to find a truth within my images to give meaning to my art. |
About the AuthorI write personal essays, creative non-fiction, flash fiction, and self-development articles from my home in Madison, Wisconsin.
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