Light on Broken Glass

Challenge #8: Tell the Story of an Empty Glass

This is the tale of an empty glass that affected many lives before its ultimate demise. To the right is a beautiful Duke Blue Devils glass, not the glass featured in this story, but a glass worth viewing nonetheless. Moving right along to the tale:

Once upon a time (don't judge it's a classic line and I like it) there was a boy born to a poor family of cobblers. As was tradition during this time, he was expected to apprentice for his father and learn the family business. However, Michael was meant for grander things, this he was certain of and he often dreamed of becoming a glass blower. 

Michael's day began at dawn where he completed his set chores on the farm before joining his father in their shoe workshop. After milking the cow and fetching water from the well a quarter mile away, he and his father walked 3 miles into the village where their shop was located. It was a modest shop with hand crafted shelves to display the shoes awaiting to be retrieved. A small partition separated the front of the shop from the work area. Here is where Michael spent the majority of his day, hunched beside his father watching him work tediously and cautiously on every project. Occasionally, Michael's father, Bernard, would have him practice a particular skill. It wasn't that the work was strenuous or monotonous, it was the final product that bored Michael. There was no room for putting oneself into the shoe and no room for creativity. 

He couldn't remember exactly when it was that he first fell in love with the idea of glass making, but it had been years since. He did, however, remember in vivid detail the first day that he met Norman. Norman was the local glass blower and his shop was on the other side of the town square. One day after work, Bernard sent him to buy some nails from the blacksmith, located right beside Norman's shop. Michael was mesmerized at the process of blowing glass and enthralled with the idea that his hands could potentially create a thing of beauty to be admired. 

Staring as Norman worked, Michael dreamed of a time when he could forgo the life of making functional products and create functional masterpieces. He loved the intricacy of the work and the give and take between blower, kiln and glass. It wasn't until Norman called hello to him that he snapped out of his trance. He had been standing there for nearly twenty minutes. Norman and Michael began to talk about glass and apprenticeships and one thing led to another and Norman was talking about how he didn't have a son to train and would Michael want to be an apprentice in his shop. Michael was elated and asked if he could train in the afternoons until supper and Norman and he set up an agreement. He skipped all the way home completely forgetting the nails he was supposed to have brought with him.

Michael knew his father would not approve so he simply lied and said he was going to hang out with his friends each afternoon. Time passed so quickly at Norman's shop that Michael was always sad to see the sun setting as he dashed the 3 miles home. Norman started him off with odds and ends around the shop before he allowed Michael to start learning the process of blowing glass. 

Routine set in and Michael had found his niche. He was unbelievably happy. The only cloud on his horizon was the fact that soon he would have to tell his father about his desire to leave cobbling because he was fourteen and at fifteen he would be too old to apprentice. How he was going to break the news he couldn't decide until one day it just came to him. He would create a glass for his father to drink mead from and after his whole family admired his work, they would ask him how he was able to afford something so beautiful and then he would tell them of his true passion. 

Dawn was breaking as Michael strolled into town. He arrived at Norman's with the goal of creating his first piece of intricate glass work. Norman wouldn't be in for at least a few hours because it was Saturday. He began working the glass and got into a rhythm. The glass was nearly finished when he inhaled with his mouth still on the pipe and the embers and flame he sucked in scarred his throat and he passed out from the searing pain on intact. As he fell toward the ground his arm hit the pipe causing it to fly in the air and land on his left hand. The glowing vase destroyed his left hand and set fire to the shop around him. 

Norman was greeted with a shop in flames and a charred figure crawling from the flames and billowing smoke. Michael was alive but barley. He was dragging a glass with him as he emerged. Michael woke up in a strange place with bandages covering a large portion of this face, left arm and legs. The doctor told him what had happened and that he would never blow glass again. The accident had made it to where Michael could not speak and his left arm was now a nub. With only one hand, glass blowing was no longer feasible. Tears streamed down his cheeks and he lost all hope. The only thing that survived the fire was the mead glass. It was distorted from hitting the ground and being drug through the dirt, but it was intact. The way it had cooled with Michael's hand clutching it created a handle on one side of the glass. 

Bernard would not speak to his son and wouldn't allow anyone else to either. He assumed correctly, Michael was abandoning cobbling and was hurt that his own flesh and blood had deceived and betrayed him with such ease. Bernard said that Michael had chosen this life and would live with his consequences alone. Luckily Norman took pity on the handless and homeless lad and welcomed him with open arms. He cared for Michael and helped him heal, even letting him have his own room. Slowly Michael's mobility increased and he could carry building materials to Norman and help clear debris with his good hand. Norman taking him in taught Michael powerful lessons of humility and forgiveness. He yearned to be able to express his gratitude to Norman and to explain his intentions to his father. 

As time passed and Bernard still refused to see Michael the bitterness began to grow in his heart. His only possession, the mangled glass, sat on his bedside table as a constant reminder of his mangled hand and his mangled relationship with his father. Bitterness began to replace the pain in his heart and he poured more focus into his work, often working well past nightfall. Soon the glass blowing shop was complete and Michael and Norman settled back into their old routine. Michael would write his father a note each night and place it in the mead glass. Norman could sense that Michael wasn't happy and devised a plan. He created a metal brace that the glass blowing pipe would insert into allowing someone to blow glass using only one hand. He couldn't wait to show Michael. Michael was ecstatic and showed his appreciation by picking Norman up in a one-armed, bear hug and spinning him round.

Over the next 3 years Michael and Norman worked together to improve his ability with the metal brace and eventually Michael was crafting beautiful pieces again. He felt happy again and people from surrounding villages would stop by the shop to watch the one-armed man blow glass. They also were amazed at his designs. He was a local legend and admired for his determination and talent. Still, Michael wanted desperately for his father to forgive him. He went to the cobbler's shop every Sunday and every Sunday Bernard would turn away and treat Michael as if he did not exist. Michael decided it was time to give Bernard the mead glass. Since Bernard wouldn't look at him, Michael left the glass on one of the display cases on the wall and walked away. He couldn't bear to return after his father made no attempt to see him and that was the last day he went to his father's shop. 

Bernard had kept the mead glass but did not look inside it until one morning, reaching for a pair of shoes, he knocked it off the shelf. The glass split into tiny pieces and it was then that he saw the tiny slips of paper filled with apologies and explanations and pleadings of reuniting. In that moment he saw what a fool he had been and was filled with remorse. 

Michael was 33 years old when his father came to see him work. At first Michael didn't recognize the stooped old man and went about his glass blowing. Bernard looked on in awe as he saw his son put his heart and soul into the unfinished piece of glass and admired the concentration and focus Michael showed. Michael looked up from his work as he heard the choking sobs coming from the direction of the old man. As he glanced in the direction of the noise he saw the stooped figure coming towards him mumbling, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Michael finally recognized Bernard and without hesitation embraced him. There they stood father and son with tears streaming, arms locked around one another. 

Words were not needed in that moment. 

At first Michael's glass was filled with love as he began making it for Bernard. Then the glass was filled with pain as he clung to it when all hope appeared lost. Next the glass was filled with hope in the form of paper slips and apologies. Finally, the glass was broken and it was then that Bernard saw the glass was always filled with love. Sometimes all we need is a flicker of light, that glimmer of hope to realize the glass was never empty. 

-THE END

"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass."

- Anton Chekhov

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Challenge #7: What I See When I Look In The Mirror

This is me on the left. This is a visual reference so you can judge if I have poor eyesight or not. 

There are multiple layers of what I notice when glancing upon my reflection. Instinctually, or from years of practice, I immediately take a once over of what my hair is doing at that current moment. As anyone with curly hair can tell you, the lion's mane can be fierce and ferocious and usually in a not so cute way. 

After tucking in stray strands, applying bobby pins where necessary and smashing down frizzy sections, I move my focus onto my face. A quick glance tells me if I need to pop any zits or get a q-tip to fix any mascara smudges. Next I flash myself a large grin to check for anything that might be hiding out in between my teeth. Nothing beats that moment when you get home after a super long day and see that you've had broccoli stuck between your teeth for 12 hours. Great impressions were made that day for sure. That pretty much summarizes the extent of what I see in the mirror for my face. 

My body doesn't require nearly as much time and focus. One glance will tell me if I need to wear a looser fitting shirt that day or if I'm still good to wear a normal one. Another inventory item is bruises. I must check to see how I've induced bodily harm in my sleep. For some reason I really like to hurt myself while asleep so I must assume that I am having awesome dreams about fighting and kicking ass. There is absolutely no other explanation as to why I wake up with bruises on the regular. 

Beyond those immediate external issues staring in the mirror can stir up a variety of feelings based on my mood at that moment. The majority of the time when I look in the mirror I am pleased with what I see. I see a cute girl with a happy smile. I would say that is 85% of the time, the other 15% would be the bad days I have when I feel ugly or fat. Those are the days I could look into the mirror and find flaws and still be standing there hours later. Those are the days when I feel insecure and try to pick out which feature has driven away all the suitors or pinpoint why my clothes are fitting a little too tightly that day. 

However, I refuse to only use my reflection to judge my beauty. During those moments of weakness when I look in the mirror and know why I'm single, I look to the edges of my mirror where I have written in expo marker inspirational quotes and bible verses to inspire me in these very moments. I acknowledge my blah mood and then move forward. I walk away. 

Think about after taking a group picture with friends. What does every single person do the second after the flash? They want to look at the photo and analyze how they look. When looking through photos with friends, we always notice ourselves and our flaws. When our friend shares his/her concerns we look at them in the photo and laugh at how they could possibly see a flaw. The reason is we are extremely critical of ourselves. We would never sit and stare for hours at friends' photos and find their flaws, so why do we do this disservice to ourselves? We deserve better.

Instead of constantly critiquing my outward appearance I choose to look beyond the physical when I look in the mirror. I look inside into the caring, compassionate and funny soul that lies beneath and realize that I am beautiful. We are all beautiful in our own ways. We can't all be gorgeous, body builders. What we can affect is our inner beauty. So next time you look in the mirror take a real glance at who you are as a person and focus on improving those flaws because your extra zit doesn't bother anyone but you. While your character flaws can cause pain and damage to others. 

When I look in the mirror I see a work in progress. I see imperfections which I love because they make me unique. I see joy and notice how much prettier I appear when smiling. I see a sense of humor and a giving spirit. I see drive and determination. When I see all these great things it's hard to notice if a hair is out of place or my mascara is smudged because I am focused on my true beauty not the physical aesthetic that holds too much value within our culture. The most beautiful people in my life are average looking, but their souls are radiant. 

Please find the beauty within and make that your focus. You'll be happier which will make you smile more and everyone looks better when smiling :D

Vin Diesel = Love

Challenge #6: I Like Cars

Before you start worrying about my sanity and think the title of this post is cause for concern, I must alert you to the fact that:

1. I am referring to the car he drives in Fast and Furious that is so beautiful
2. Don't judge me, but I think he's totes sexy

Moving right along to the main topic, the only thing more gorgeous than Paul Walker, the 1970 Dodge Charger R/T. This car is so sleek and sick and I only drool over it every other time I watch the movie. Okay, everytime. What can I say, I really was born in the wrong decade. The Beatles are my favorite band, I love muscle cars from 68'-70' and I'm sure there's other stuff.

70' Dodge Charger R/T

Just look at her for a hot minute and tell me you're not in love. You can't do it. This is a classic girl meets car and falls in love fairytale. The only issue is that the mean evil step-mother (my empty bank account) won't allow us to be together. I'm holding fast to my dream that one day I will own a muscle car from this time frame. The 70s Charger is one of my wishes. Others include a 68' Mustang GT or 69' Pontiac GTO. 

68' Mustang GT

69' Pontiac GTO

I guess the saying rings true for cars as well as men: Once you go black, you don't go back. I can attest to the former, I've yet to discover if there's truth in the latter. Either way I love a black car. And Vin Diesel is partly the reason that my love of the muscle car has grown. He made it look so badass and I really want to be a badass. Dear Jesus, bring on the rich husband who knows his way around a car! One day, Dodge Charger, you'll be mine...one day. 

Squirrels for Sanity

Challenge #5: The Best Vacation Ever

There are so many amazing vacations that I have had the privilege to go on but the trip that stands out as the best vacation ever is definitely my adventure in Washington D.C. with the bestie:

I am an avid "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" watcher and the idea for this trek began when these two masterminds announced their Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. I immediately wanted to go so I did what anyone would and made a facebook status about my desire to see if there were any takers. Of course Roo volunteered in the clutch and made my dreams a reality. We instantly set about contacting our sweet friend Jessie who lived in D.C. She was beyond awesome sauce and volunteered to put us up for free! Now all we had to do was save up enough for the flight there and back.

The beauty of our nation's capital and this rally is the amount of free stuff available to do. (Left: we arrive and take the metro to meet Jessie)

We began with a quick bite to eat and dropping our luggage off at Jessie's place before heading out to stroll in the lovely weather at the ZOO!! (Below: Jessie and I joking around w/ Rexy)
After enjoying the sights and sounds and some smells at the zoo we stopped into a 7-eleven, which was my first time in one so this was exciting and headed to the college side of town for some window browsing. Dupont was next where we ate delicious food and then browsed a bookstore/restaurant/bar. It was the coolest place and an added little touch was the restroom required a token for entrance that you got for free downstairs. I obviously waited for someone to open the door so I could save my token for a great souvenir. One last stop at an adorable cupcakery and we were ready for beddy-bye.

We woke bright and early at 6am the next morning to ensure ample time to tour the monuments and museums. We headed toward the Washington Monument (far right) and saw the Lincoln Memorial, White House and Jefferson Memorial along with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and, my favorite, Albert Einstein!

(Notice how large his statue is on the left) Next we couldn't pass up an opportunity to play in the gorgeous leaves on our way toward the museums. We played around with the self-timer on my camera and had quite the romp.

Continuing onward we went to all the museums lining the mall and were fortunate enough to come across a small festival and listen to a book reading and interesting gourd music while eating our delectable and giant eggrolls and hotdogs from the street vendor. The eggroll I purchased was roughly the size of two clenched fists. One notable moment was when we went to the modern art museum and chose to watch an installation titled "Floating McDonald's" that was supposed to be about corporate greed and what not. Instead it was 30 minutes of watching water flood a McDonald's with no dialogue. Mae and I are not "art" people, we discovered. After walking until we were numb, a much needed Forever 21 break arrived and we both bought super adorable coats. These were necessity because of how chilly it was. Donning our new threads we aimed for the Capitol Building and Justice Building to enjoy the sunset before meeting up with some friends.

Luckily for us Will and Jade were in D.C. for the rally as well and we all met up with Zach at a great little pizzeria owned by Spike from Top Chef. The pizza was phenomenal and the beer was superb. Stuffed on slices we decided to head to a local bar and relax for the remainder of the evening.

Rally Day was upon us and I was so stoked. The Rally was everything

I had dreamed it would be and more. It started with Adam and Jamie

of Mythbusters getting the crowd hyped by doing giant waves and

timing our speed and having everyone jump at once to see if we registered on the richter scale. It was followed by hours of amazing guests, hilarious skits and an inspiring overall message. Jon Stewart ended with a touching speech and one quote of his that I loved was,

"If we amplify everything, we hear nothing."

Chaotic was the term that best described the rally and it took us a while to wait for most people to clear out so we could find Will and Jade. We headed to Union Station to grab a late lunch/early dinner. Maeg and I were tuckered out and decided to hop on the metro and spend the last night hanging out with Jessie and getting some zzz's. We had a little bit of a wait, due to my incorrect

route choice and decided to have a mini photo sesh. We were both exhausted and our over abundant use of accents and giggles alerted anyone within a 25 foot radius of this fact.

This 3 day vacation was jam packed with great friends, silly moments, new experiences and tons of sight-seeing. We slept possibly 15 to 18 hours total in the 3 nights that we were there and walked until our calf muscles developed calf muscles of their own. At the end I was incredibly tired and had experienced the vacation of a lifetime. This was indeed the best vacation ever because it was spontaneous, I went with my best friend, it was super cheap and it created countless memories and inside jokes to last a lifetime.

Don't Make Me Angry, You Won't Like Me When I'm Angry

Challenge #4: Things That Bother Me

I'm sure that you, much like myself, are constantly fighting the urge to burst into song on a regular basis due to our easy going and understanding natures. However, sometimes certain things set me off to the point that I fully understand the analogies pertaining to boiling blood and seeing red. Another way to take this challenge is to consider the things that give me the heeby jeebies (not sure if this is the correct spelling). Here is a list of a few of the things that really grind my gears or gross me out:

1. Incessant yapping of a dog/an infant crying: Whatever, judge me all you want, but I think of

all the ways I can murder the miniscule noisemaker. Barking doesn't really bother me, but when a small dog yaps in that high pitch tone for no reason other than sheer boredom I dream of launching it out my window. Babies crying are an instant irritant, but I have less evil thoughts about destroying them or sending them to the bowels of hell and focus more on not losing my mind. I just breathe deeply and try to think of beautiful noises like ocean waves lapping a shore, basketball sneakers on a gym floor, or children's laughter echoing down a hallway.

(Above: Daisy, she knows what she did)

2. Clusters: (I like that upon first reading the word you have to guess whether I am freaked out by or frustrated by the word) Creeped out to the point of a shoulder shimmy, grimace, and head turn is the case for this word. Now, hear me out, not all clusters bother me. I think a field of wildflowers is glorious. It is clusters of certain things. And what sucks is I only know after I've seen if it is going into the cool clusters category or the creepy clusters category (how's that for alliteration). Gnat clusters on an open cut or wound makes my skin crawl just thinking about it. Another is clusters of sores like you would see from disease, infection or a really bad case of acne. Okay enough talk about clusters.

3. Ignorant People: Now I'm not talking about loveable idiots who miraculously function in our world, but people who are close-minded and refuse to educate themselves. This is evidenced in the form of prejudice, stereotyping, racism, etc. I hate when people don't like something they have never tried or know nothing about. I think it infuriates me so because talking to someone with that amount of hatred is like talking to a brick wall. There is no reasoning with them, even the wall will occasionally hear you out.

4. Negative/Whiny People: This is something I picked up from my Pops for sure. Everyone has a bad day or gets whiny every now and again, but I am referring to the individuals who live in a constant dark cloud and want desperately to drag everyone else into it with them. I live on a rainbow and prefer the side with the pot of gold myself. A person who is always in a blah mood is miserable to be around.

5. Talking during movies: I hate it so much that I prefer to go to the movie theater alone than suffer through chatter during important dialogue. Comedies, go ahead and joke along with the movie and crack inside jokes with me throughout the film. Action movies, there is nothing really important so an occasional comment is no bother. Don't try to interrupt a serious movie or sigh and audibly respond to every moment during our cinematic adventure together. I will hate you inwardly and then stop attending movies with you. Yeah I'm ruthless. If this annoys you as much as it does me I challenge you to go to a movie on Sunday afternoon or any matinee by yourself and experience the quiet joy.

Okay, rant over. I hope this was entertaining as I was not in a bad mood while writing so hilarity was lacking. Anyone who has witnessed me actually pissed knows how truly funny I can be and foul-mouthed. Hopefully you will never see this side of me now that you are aware of what NOT to do in my presence.