Years ago, I was an avid scrapbooker. This was before the age of die cut machines, vinyl lettering and sparkly stick-on gems. This was back when the pages had a plastic covering that you had to pull back with a satisfying creeeeeeeak-teeeeaaaaaar sound to reveal the sticky surface for adhering photos. This was back when we didn’t know that the acid in that sticky surface destroyed precious collectibles. But, it didn’t matter, I loved taking and collecting photos.
Then, scrapbooking became a craze. People (women, mostly, in my world) spent thousands and thousands of dollars to scrapbook. I actually knew a man whose wife had two rooms dedicated to and full of stuff for scrapbooking that actually began trickling out into the dining room. She had so much stuff he was considering starting a home business for her so other women could come there and rent time/ space/ materials for scrapbooking. It was insane!
At about the point scrapbooking become this wild, out-of-control, addictive fad, I got bored with it. Even the stick-on sparkly things weren’t enough to draw me into the fiendish trend. However, I really did dig the scissors that gave fancy edges to whatever you were cutting and I got several different pair. Yesterday, when we did our paper chain project, we got out a couple pairs of those cool scissors to make our chain a little fancier.
This morning as I sat down at the table to start working on my book, I glanced down and noticed the two scissors sitting there, slightly open, jaws gaping with their “teeth” that would make fancy edges when they closed together over paper. I had a moment where I just stared at them, realizing that someone, somewhere had decided that straight edges just weren’t enough and there needed to be some way to make scissors cut in fancy designs.
The cool thing about being human is our inventive imaginations. We have the ability to create from within us. We have the power of creation nestled in our minds and we can create anything we set our minds to. In fact, I am sitting here right now, looking to my left and I see two ziplock bags, a cup, two fancy scissors, a glue stick, a wallet and my smartphone. At one point in history, each of these items were not in existence because someone had not yet gotten curious enough about creating them. Glue sticks! So cool! I’d love to kiss the person who thought them up. And smartphones? WOW! Actually… all these items sitting here have been an improvement upon my life. Some of them I can live without; others (phone, for instance) have become like another appendage in my world.
We are such powerful beings and I sometimes forget that. I sometimes forget that I am here for a purpose and I imagine other people have those moments too. Then, all it takes for me to remember is to glance down and see those scissors that make everything have pretty edges and I can know that someone, somewhere created that tool. Power!
