By the age of seven I was skilled in the trade of sequin hunting. On hands and knees, back elevated, I had mastered the art of uncovering these sacred slivers of gold, red, silver and pink, in the corners of rooms where the floor board would meet the wall. Unearthing a land mine of sequins that had strayed from their costumes.
Now any good sequin hunter knows that the treasure must be taken care of, either passed onto a friend who will appreciate the shimmer or tucked safely in the side of one’s dance bag, set aside so that one might poke their head in to look at the collection in between tap and jazz class. I am still an avid sequin hunter today; I just look in different places.
I think sequins hold a deeper purpose for all of us. I think sequins can teach us a thing or two about how we should live our lives. As I learn more and more about life every single day I am beginning to see that the meaning to life is not to try to never grow up or leave a place or pass away. The meaning to life is to make it so that no matter where you go, you are always leaving sequins behind.
Let’s get metaphorical for a moment and say that our life is like a costume or a tutu, adorned and bedazzled with brilliant sequins. Well what do we do with this costume? We should certainly show it off to the world, do a turn and spin here and there. But should we be so careful to make sure that the sequins never fall off? That we never lose a part of our radiant garb?
Ah, this is the best secret of all. Let’s dance so wildly, dance so free, shake our hips so furiously that we let sequins fall off, scatter themselves like seeds to plant deep in the hearts of others. At the end of my life I would much rather look down at my costume and see only a few lone sequins or none at all. Of course then I would smile, knowing that I lived my life just right. You see the sequins don’t disappear or disintegrate, they simply find new homes in the souls of others.
This is my hope. To leave glimmering sequins of all shapes and sizes all over the place, to entice people to pick up my words, to inspire people through my compassion, to change people through my actions. And hopefully my sequins will be picked up, passed along, always cherished and always serving a purpose.
A friend of mine sent an email to me yesterday, enclosed in it was a link to a blog of a 22-year-old girl named Molly Hightower. Molly was dedicating June 2009-2010 to Friends of the Orphans in Haiti. She was killed in the earthquake that shook the grounds and soul of Port-Au-Prince on January 12, 2010. I never knew Molly but I have spent all morning reading her blog and seeing the magical works she committed herself to doing. Though she was so young, with so much life ahead of her, I believe that Molly understood life deeper than most. Molly has impacted the lives of so many, in this nation and in nations abroad, and it is evident that her sequins are everywhere; scattered all over, shimmering in the sun and taking refuge in the hearts of many.
You see life, more than any adjective like long, challenging or mysterious, is unpredictable. We cannot guarantee ourselves a tomorrow and so we must work with today. We must continue to let sequins stray from our souls so that others might pick them up and never be the same.
What sequins do you treasure in your own life? What sequins of yours do you hope others will pick up?
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