It’s been a “re” kind of week for me. What do I mean by “re”? Let me share a few examples. Re-read. Re-watch. Re-listen. Re-eat. In a society where newer is better, I’ve tried to take a step back and find new insight into things I’ve experienced already.
It started off when I came home for my grandmother’s funeral in late October. I told old stories, I looked at old pictures, and connected in a way with my extended family that I’d never had done before. It also reminded me of the diminishing gap between where I am and the end (however you want to define that is up to you). Not in a bad way though. I felt that I was a puddle and this deep thought was a stone being dropped on top of me, so I was moving forwards and backwards at the same rate.
So thus began the month of “Re”. I grabbed old books from my room, grabbed old CD’s and records, and event snagged a few DVDs (I would have grabbed a couple VHS’, but I lack the proper player and TV at my apartment).
A week later, my girlfriend and I took a vacation to Durham and Asheville (that I documented here). On the plane to Durham, I re-read Vonnegut’s A Man Without a Country. The first time I read this, I was on a bus in Israel right after I graduated college. When I got back home after vacation, I popped on a copy of Sly and the Family Stone’s Dance To the Music while I cleaned my room and remembered being at overnight camp cleaning my bunk before visiting day in 1996.
The book and the album meant totally different things for me when I first read and listened to when I re-read and re-listened. I was searching for direction and constantly doubting myself when I graduated college. I was shy and underestimated my potential when I was going into 6th grade. I’m not saying I have all the answers or have become the most outgoing person in the world, but the “re” experience helped me see my growth as a person and instantaneously bring hope for where I’m headed.
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