Searching for Inspiration
14 March 2012
This previous weekend was filled with surprises; I was able to meet with my Mom who lives 4000 miles away and I discovered a new vehicle in which one can utilize to find inspiration. After meeting my Mother at the historic Eastville Inn, located in lower Virginia I started the three hour drive back home. The sun was setting and a golden glow immersed the landscape. Although it is still early spring, the countryside came alive, and the view from the car was of a dancing countryside.
Further up the road I saw a myriad of typical billboards; auto insurance, local venue choices, and an antique shop ad. For the reader unfamiliar with my historic pattern, one must know that I am not an antique store personality. However, my recent resolution has been to try as many new things as come across my path; the antique store was only twenty feet off of my highway path home, so I decided to stop in. It was 4 o'clock and the store closed in less than an hour's time. "No bother I mused to myself... what could I find of interest to me?" However, I was pointedly incorrect.
What I found inside, albeit filled with typical "dust collectors" as I have historically called them, was a collection of forgetten facets of art and culture under the guise of a warehouse antique shop. Original unnamed art prints bins of vintage records, vintage movie posters, inspring ladies fashions dating to the Roaring 1920's. In an unimpressive statement: I could have spent an entire day in the store along with the parting of several paychecks.
The point is not what I found to fill my heart's content of basic consumerism and whatever fashionable name one might choose to call it; the point is that I found an avenue of inspiration. I grew up as a narrow-minded individual who had a lack of appreciation for many of the artistical revelations in life. I am by no means an artist, poet, actor, entertainer of the like; but I have a profound appreciate to discover a passion for myself. Whether one passion fleets over time or not; I enjoy the adventure and sensation of trying something new. Reading a new facet of literature, learning a new language, trying a new food, listening to a random record of a music genre never before permitted to my ears, are all elements of inspiration for me as an individual; a human being.
What I implore others to do, is - as archaic or cheesy as it may be - to try something new; something that recquires a bit of a stretch and courage to experience. You never know who might be inspired and what they might achieve... art, life, creation, all begin on some medium of a blank or void just waiting to be filled.
