A few years ago, I stumbled upon this quote and taped it to my computer monitor at work. After leaving that job, and all the baggage that was associated with it, my little quote was dropped down into the box of paraphernalia that represented two and half years of my work life. The box was put out in the garage, and really never looked at. You can image the feelings I must have harbored from that job, if some of those things didn't make it to my next one! The box has sat in the garage for two years now. I've moved it as I have needed access to other boxes, but have never pulled it out to go through and organize what was inside. That is, until today.
My sweet husband has been working like a mad man, moving sheet rock to the basement and clearing out the garage so we can house his project car, a Volvo circa 1970. He brought in a couple of things for me to go through and one of the boxes that landed on my kitchen table was my E.G. box. (E.G. are the initials of the place I worked before.) Inside were some things that should have been taken care of two years ago. The box of instant oatmeal was past it's prime for certain and it made haste to the trash can. A half used box of business cards soon followed, as well as instant hot chocolate mixes.
What I found after clearing away some of the "stuff" that I never really needed, nor should have ever boxed up, was something that I should have pulled out sooner than today. It was a white box, that held a Christmas gift from a dear friend. Inside, wrapped in red and green tissue were a couple of items, that standing alone, would never indicate their importance, but together, represent the good things that I learned while there. A wine glass, a glass pickle, fools gold, and a moist towelette. I don't drink wine, but the glass itself is pretty and reminds me to toast the success in life. The pickle represented customer service. The towelette, that we all make mistakes. I don't remember what the fools gold stood for, but it was there. It was nice to reminisce about these things, but they aren't the things that stood out to me the most. It was my quote. Sitting in that box, amidst the tissue paper, was this two inch paper with my quote on it. I could have easily thrown out the quote with all the tissue paper, but I didn't. I looked around the box, for anything else that might have been there, and found this little reminder:
"Knowledge is like a garden; if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested."--Guinean saying
I love this quote, because it reminds me to keep learning. Have I stopped? Have you? I'm taking a writing class this summer. Oh, I know that I'm probably biting off more than I can chew with my new job (and I LOVE it by the way!) in the Registrar's office, family responsibilies, church callings, etc., but I'm going to do it anyway! Why? Because someday when I have enough words written to actually say I have a book, and the story comes together, I will be able to harvest. The cultivation is my current pursuit, but someday, with any of my projects, I want to have the opportunity to harvest all that I can. Wether it be with my attempt at writing, being the mother to my children, the wife to my husband, or any other task I hope to accomplish someday...I want to reap the rewards of my garden.
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2 Lovely Scribbles to Me:
Beautiful thoughts.
And I love the seredipity involved finding these treasures, years later. Hmmm, makes me wonder what things I could find in my garage boxes?
We're definitely at the cultivating stage of life. I read a blog the other night (forget which one) and she said:
It took God 7 days to create the earth...and we, too, as women and mothers are creating great things that take time. The world wasn't created in just one day, and neither are many other things in life. Each day we create something, maybe one or two things. And that is enough.
Best of luck in your upcoming class!
Wow! Not that it matters, because it was the quote that was the best find, but the gold stood for what it means to "get on board." If your fools gold bottle didn't have a train on the top of it anymore...it use to, so it was all about getting on board. Impressive I remember huh?
J/K I just cracked out my EG scrapbook to crack that mystery! When you were talking about an old job, 2 1/2 yrs ago, I was thinking it was EG, but I can't believe it's been that long. It's hard for me to remember the bad when I look at this scrapbook I made and think of all the good that personally came to me while being there. But I don't want to experience that level of stress again and I am sure my hubby likes me better now as well too!
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