Why?

‘Why do you sit out here all alone?’ said Alice, not wishing to begin an argument.

‘Why, because there’s nobody with me!’ cried Humpty Dumpty. ‘Did you think I didn’t know the answer to that? Ask another.’

I am what you would call a "WHY" person. My mother would say that if “WHY” was not the first word I spoke, it was most definitely one of the most frequent words I said!  Why am I such a WHY person?

Why... 

adverb  

1. for what reason or purpose.     

 I think. That would be the reason. I think a lot! I wonder about things. I take things to little pieces and try to put them back together again (in my thoughts mostly!) I may not be the brightest spark in the fire but I don't do too bad at the analysis game. I like to know WHY! 

“Why” can be very useful when you need to know something.

Why does the engine rattle like that when there is no oil in it?

Why do I need to sleep more than 6 hours a night?

Why is this policy in place?

Why do I have to hold me fingers out of the way of the chopping knife?

Why can be frustrating for those on the receiving end. Those questions that are hard to answer.

Why is the sky blue?

Why did that man say that?

Why did they call it Paris?

WHY don't you like it when I ask “WHY”? (sorry, Mom!)

I can't explain the desire to know. It is just there, and to set the record straight, I don't want to know everything! There are things out there that I am 100% NOT interested in! However....when I AM interested in something...LOOK OUT! I want to KNOW WHY!! My brain starts to unravel the item, unpack the contents, look at details. Sometimes it is doing this in the "back room" and my front room is blissfully unaware of all the activity.

(Does that sound strange to you? Hmm, it is something I have been doing for years so it's quite normal to me  J)

When I may need the information or I have some time to wander through my brain rooms I can stumble across the most interesting stuff! I probably need to learn how to store that “stuff” in a more orderly fashion.

I have been know to ask the "question" in the middle of a lesson....only to find if I had been a bit patient I would have found out the reason in the next few sentences. Ah! Patience. I wonder why I don’t have more of that?

Of course, there are plenty of times when the brain is just too tired to think and ask the “why” questions, unfortunately those times seem to come during the day when I most WANT it to be firing on all four cylinders!  

My brain sometimes thinks it is most effective to ask the question in the middle of the night when I should be sleeping! It goes through a well-worn path of whys, wonders and how comes. 

I keep telling my brain that 3 AM is not the time for that (unless I am working a night-shift) Those night time “whys” can cause one to not only lose sleep but also to lose perspective. It is too easy for the imagination to jump into the fray and provide the “answers” to the whys, but these pseudo answers only lead to more whys and on it goes.

There have been a few long periods of SILENCE where my brain was filled with fear rather than wonder. These periods come and go for all of us but for some they linger a bit longer and can be daunting. Fear can overshadow the ability to seek out, learn, and conquer the Why’s of this life. Fear must not be allowed to squash the wonder. It must not be allowed to overshadow the desire to be more, learn more, experience more.

“Why” is like a ticket to the next level. As long as you ask the right “Why” question.

What is the right “Why” question? I can’t answer that for you. I can only go on with my journey and share what it was/is and will be for me.

I may even discover on this journey that it is not necessary to ask Why as often as I do. 

The ultimate answer might be  "Just because."

You can always check back on me periodically and see where the “Why’s” of my life take me.

Until next time I shall be off.....

….you’ll stay and see me off first?’ ...... ‘I shan’t be long. You’ll wait and wave your handkerchief when I get to that turn in the road? I think it’ll encourage me, you see.’

Beginnings

So, the beginning has begun, the first step has been taken, the ice has been broken, the seal has been cracked the....Oh STOP waffling on and say what you are going to say!!!

Sorry, sometimes the Monty Pythonesque syndrome hits and I go off a bit. Where was I? Oh, yes...Beginnings!

In the beginning, I wasn't. And then I was. Born, that is. I guess even back then I wanted to DO something. I was the source of many tear filled nights during my childhood because of my adventures...with the wringer on the washing machine, with the big wash tub filled with water, with the lake, with the car, with the fish hook, with the pig....oh yes! I was a real into it child! I even got my sister involved in my adventures.
There was the time I decided that our little table and chair set was boring in yellow, so we "painted" them with black polkadots. Paint? Um, no. It was a can of tar that was being used to waterproof the cement blocks in the basement. Paintbrushes? Fingers were invented well before paintbrushes! And doesn't tar stick so well? to the skin, the hair, the floor, the chairs, the table! I have a vague memory of being scrubbed and turped and scrubbed and turped (turpentine for those not in the know) I think there was a couple of haircuts involved as well.
Yes, my beginning was adventurous. The above writings all happened before I turned 5 and they didn't stop there.

But this wasn't supposed to be about adventures. It is about beginnings, of which I have had many. Each time we moved, and we moved quite a lot, it was a new beginning. New home, new school, new friends. New challenges, new lessons. Some of those lessons have gone un-noticed until recent days. It may be a good thing to revisit some of those "new" beginnings all these years later and look at them with a matured eye rather than a child's eye. The child's understanding is limited, incomplete, subject to misunderstanding the situation. A child's eye can interpret falsely and carry an incorrect memory for years, a memory that could be the foundation for who that child will become. A foundation that could be doomed to crumble/collapse/disintegrate as the smallest piece of truth-force is applied to it.

Who we are is largely because of how we responded to our new beginnings in the past. Who we will become will be because of how we respond to the new beginnings to come.  I am choosing to face my new beginnings with a positive attitude. To advance who I am with a stronger emphasis of reliance on One stronger than myself. I choose to look back at my past "new beginnings" and find the lessons I missed. I choose to find the good in me and not be afraid to say it is there. I choose to face my new beginnings with joyful anticipation of the things I will learn and experience. I choose....because I can!

so, with that said, I will sign off with some wise words from one of my book "friends"

“Speak in French when you can’t think of the English for a thing--
turn your toes out when you walk---
And remember who you are!” 

until next time.....

The White Rabbit put on it's spectacles. `Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?' it asked.
`Begin at the beginning,' the King said gravely, `and go on till you come to the end: then stop.'

Well, this is a beginning. I have no idea how long the story shall be, so I won't even begin to predict where it may stop.

This will be my rambling page. I may have pictures, or poems or personal insights or whatever I feel to share with the world at large.

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass have been favourites as long as I can remember. I had the great privilege of playing the White Rabbit in my High School. I tried for Alice, but I wasn't quite what our school drama teacher/director wanted for the part (blonde hair, no less!)

To find oneself falling down a rabbit hole and into a world where the impossible is quite possible is an imaginary delight for me. Reading this, I was be transported into that world and I would be Alice, The Queen, the Duchess, the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, the Dormouse, the Mad Hatter etc.  in turn.

My imagination has never really been lacking and, although it has taken a bit of a holiday the last few years, it doesn't seem that it will fade away into insignificance. One of my life motto's has been taken from another book... 

“If growing up means it would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree, I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!” 

― J.M. Barrie

J.M. Barrie, of course, wrote Peter Pan. Funny, I would rather have been one of the Lost Boys than be Tinkerbell or Wendy. I think the boys had much more fun!  Wendy seemed to get all the responsibility of motherhood without the fun of getting into the dirt and playing with the kids! Hmph! What is the use of going to Neverland if you only get to do the washing up and mending? I suppose it was typical for the time it was written. At least Tiger Lily had more to do than be a weak female.  I guess that is one of the reasons I like Alice so much. She DID stuff! 

I still have dreams of climbing a mountain somewhere and sitting at the top, letting the wind blow in my hair. I dream of going to the vast wilderness areas and drink in the spectacular views, to be awed by the bigness and the beauty of nature. The movie "The secret life of Walter Mitty" appealed to me purely because the movie character DID go and do those things, see those things, experience those things. 

I dream of doing the travel and taking the photo's and one day having that WOW! shot that puts people on their heels. Not because I want them to say "isn't she so good" but because I would feel like I had achieved a major goal, "made a difference".

So, on that note....

"Now, I give you fair warning," shouted the Queen, stamping on the ground as she spoke; "either you or your head must be off, and that in about half no time! Take your choice!"


I am off...until next time.