Being Influenced

Its funny, the things that make us think the way we do on any given day. Some things come into our life and change our whole outlook .
Simple things can form concepts, philosophies and dreams that we carry with us for a long time.
I was sitting in my rocker, looking at my empty living room and thinking about the things that influence us so profoundly. When I was 10 I got my first pen pal. Drenna Fuller from England. Then at age 12 there was Mary from Dublin, Ireland. Later when I was 14 Jacob Varghese from Kerela, India.
From the simple act of wanting a pen pal grew a love of other cultures which was in turn transferred to my children.
This is all leading someplace so bear with me. When Melanie was 18, she and I were looking at magazines in Barnes and Noble in Ft Worth. There was a copy of Bibi magazine. Its a bridal magazine for Indian weddings. From me, she had a love of the Indian culture so the magazine grabbed her attention. She fell in love with the colors of the sari's and the wedding jewelry. We bought the magazine and she poured through the pages often, and kept it under her bed for several years . Now, here she is planning her own wedding and yes, its her dream kind of wedding. Totally influenced by picking up a magazine in October of 2001. She will wear an American style wedding dress for the ceremony, but with Indian wedding jewelry, change into a wedding sari for her reception, all her wedding party to be dressed with what she fell in love with so long ago. A simple thing like picking up a magazine, such influence !
We found the magazine when she was packing her things, it was a real reminder that small acts can have a powerful affect on us.
In looking around my living room today, I saw a doilies carelessly tossed on the back of a chair, waiting to be put on the coffee table. In this same train of thought regarding random things influencing us so much, I remembered loving the fine crochet work of the doilies around my house as a child. From this, a love of doilies and quite a collection of them.
Simple things like a passing conversation can turn your thinking totally around. As can a chance encounter with a stranger who teaches with their actions. Both good and bad.
It makes you feel responsible to watch what you do and say and where you go and what you see.

Bibi magazine, Oct 2001
A chair with a doilie on it
For laughs, Emery pants to go with his wedding outfit.