Do you ever get a song stuck in your head?  Or maybe an idea that you just can’t shake?  For no logical reason, you feel the need to hear a song or see an idea through.  What seems strange to others makes perfect sense to you.

A couple of weeks ago I made a collage, it was a task in week three of Walking in This World (Julia Cameron).  Outside of helping my kids with projects, I hadn’t made a collage since college. 

I read the assignment, gathered my magazines, scissors, and some tape. I scrounged up a piece of left over poster board from one of Christian’s last year high school projects and settled in to complete my ‘homework.’

An hour later I felt like a twelve-year-old, amazed and delighted with what I had produced.  I looked at what I created and decided I wanted to frame it.  It made no logical sense. I’m a fifty year old woman and I just spent an hour taping pictures from magazines onto a piece of bent up poster board.  I wanted to frame it, not only did I want to frame it; I wanted to hang it on my bedroom wall.

I couldn’t get the thought out of my head  so I talked my sixteen year old son into going to Michaels with me.

Of course the idea was spur of the moment and I hadn’t thought about taking the time to measure the poster board so we could easily pick out the right size frame.  He patiently toted frames to the poster  board aisle and poster board back to the frames aisle  while I tried to remember the measurements.  After several trips back and forth we declared victory.

Christian turned to me and said, “Mom, the poster board you used is sort of bent and crumpled.  I think if you’re going to frame it, it deserves more.”

“I think you’re right, but what color?” I responded.

“What color is your soul?” he asked and pointed at the rainbow of colors on the rack.

(as is not uncommon, he floors me with his questions)

“Well…purple is my favorite color, but they don’t have it.  I like pink, but it doesn’t seem quite right.  Oh, wait…I like this one…see how the pink gradually turns into orange…it’s like the sun.”

He looked me in the eye and said, “Mom, we both know it…  ‘that’ is the color of your soul. Buy it.”

Inspiration comes in strange ways and often when we least expect it.

Authors note:  The piece of poster board turned out to be a good deal larger than the one on which I had created my collage.  Its somewhat ironic that a key point of the chapter focused on ‘living large,’ growing into the you that is meant to be.