a life less common: words...

If you've ever come to my house, you may find my choice of decorating to be interesting. I like to see new and old come together. I find joy in old things, usually, far more then I find joy in something new. My house is filled with old books, old furniture, trunks, dishes, and the likes. The older it is, the more beauty I see.

When I was about 9 years old, I remember one of my parents friends coming over with a pickup truck and he was pulling a wagon. The wagon was filled with boxes and boxes of old books. He was taking them off to dump them somewhere, I can't remember, but he told us if we liked anything we could keep it. Even at my young age, I thought the books were fascinating. I looked for the oldest ones. I had no idea what the story of the book was, or if I would ever read it, but I found it to be beautiful, to be a treasure.

I'm not entirely sure where this love for old things came from. Probably my mom more so then my dad, granted neither of them find an old book to be anything special to this day. My mom would probably say that this old book has some voodoo something or other going on with it, and my dad would say 'you can't even flip the pages without wrecking it,' and then throw it in the trash.

But me? Holding something old is a gift, a treasure. Do you realize how many hands this has passed through? How many years it has seen? Can you imagine the adventures this thing, whatever it is, has been on? Can you feel the tears that were spilt as you hold this 100 year old bible, or the lessons learned? Can you imagine the old clothes, and few precious belonging that were packed away in this trunk... maybe holding hand sewn quilts, baby clothes, or a wedding dress? Can you imagine the conversations held while drinking coffee on this coffee table, or the family meals held around this dinner table? How about the life of the man who wrote this book 110 years ago?

Yes, old things, things that might seem worthless, a waste, ugly, useless, I find them beautiful.

I'm not totally sure where I'm going with this... Maybe it's that I think that people are so quick to just give up on things, and on people, and they choose not to see the beauty. Some people may see a crappy, worn down barn, that has caved in from heavy snow... I see all the stories of kids playing there, animals birthing there, and farmers working hard. I see wood that is aged by sun and weather, that has seen more days then I can imagine... so to take it, to make something new from the ruins, is an honor. For in my home holds not just a picture frame made from a barn, but history, stories, mystery, and memories of lives lived.

But the same goes for people. Young or old, people are so quick to throw away the broken, the damaged, the aged. Some may see the crippled, the mentally ill, the elderly, the poor, the abused and the broken, and the orphans, and they give them less value, they don't think they are as capable of as much, or shouldn't be fought for as much.

But the physically handicapped can still move mountains.

The mentally ill can still feel, can still love, can still experience touch.

The elderly have not always been as they are. Once they were just as young as you, and they have seen and experienced far more then you could imagine. They still love, they still grieve, they still feel.

The poor can still laugh, can be rich in spirit, can give beyond measure.

The abused and the broken did not choose that, nor are they identified in that. They are people with the hearts of man, with a character, with a hope, and a desire.

The orphans are precious. They have experienced great loss, whether by a parents choice, horrible circumstance, or by a death, still a loss no one should experience. They did not choose it, nor did they want it. Some may see a number, another burden on society, another kid in the system looking for trouble... I see hope. I see love. I see beauty. I see sons. I see daughters. I see children longing to be loved, to be apart of a family. I see kids wanting to give back, wanting to be more then just another number.

I see them. I see them. I see them.

Old, worn, used, broken, abandoned... all just words to describe something... what if we changed that? What if instead of old we saw the beauty of life and wisdom, of richness money cannot buy?