Boxes

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! Mine was pretty good despite being sick still. I think I am finally on the mend today. Since Christmas is done, I have turned my attention towards New Years. Every year people make resolutions where they declare they will give up this or that. The majority of them fall flat. I know in past years I have certainly done the same thing with the same results.

At Christmas the custom is to exchange gifts. It's always a delight to open up a pretty box and find some unexpected treasure inside. This year I got one of those boxes. Along with the camera, my husband surprised me with a very tiny box in the bottom of my stocking. When I opened it there was an incredibly beautiful pair of diamond earrings. The poor man thought I didn't like them because I didn't say anything at first. The truth is I was too stunned to speak, I simply couldn't process what I was looking at. (Yes I know that's hard to imagine me being speechless, but really...no words came.) He rarely buys me jewelry.

When we are children we imagine pirate treasure coming in boxes and we often keep boxes filled with our own little treasures. As adults we like to compartmentalize so we still have our boxes of sorts. I guess knowing all this, it shouldn't come as a big surprise that I imagine an amoire in my soul filled with shelves of boxes as well.

On the bottom shelf tucked into a dark corner is a small cardboard box. It's water stained and smells of mildew. Inside this box are all my misdeeds. Luckily it's not a huge box, and I rarely take it out and look at it's contents. There is nothing I can do to change the past, so I leave it sit and try to learn from my mistakes. I also try very hard to never add anything to this box.

On a higher shelf is a wooden Japanese puzzle box. It contains all the trials and tribulations I have had to go through in my life. Opening the box is difficult, but you can do it if you find the right combination, and you have to be in the right frame of mind.

Still higher sit two boxes side by side. One is inlaid with gleaming white mother of pearl. This box contains all my good deeds and selfless acts. It's a pretty box, but I rarely open it for anything more than to add things to it. I don't like to dwell too hard on it's contents either.

Sitting beside it is a fancy old cigar box. The corners are worn because I open this box a lot! When you open the box it has a bright cheery picture inside the lid and the scent of far away places wafts out. It contains all my cherished memories of people, places and events I have had in my life.

On the highest shelf sits a tiny gold filigree box studded with aurora borealis crystals. It's so delicate it couldn't have been made by human hands. I am almost afraid of crushing it. When you open this box a soft minuet starts to play in tinkling notes. Inside this box written in script on very fine vellum strips are all the secret dreams and desires I have ever had that never came to fruition.

This year for my New Years resolution I carefully opened the box and pulled out a dream that was near the bottom of the pile. It's something I have thought about over the years, and always felt the time had passed for. I realized I am 45 years old, half of my life has passed...but you are never too old to make a dream come true. Whether it's yours or someone else's. That kind of wisdom can only come with age. This year, I am going to make that dream of mine come true. In fact I ordered two small things to get me started. It will probably seem silly to many of you, but that's ok. I never worry over much about what others think. I never have. When the two things arrive...I will tell you more. But until then what I pulled out of that box will remain my secret. *winks*

Maybe this year instead of giving up something, you should pull something from one of your own boxes and add that to your life! Whatever you decide to do for the coming year, I hope it brings you joy!