Although I have captured many beautiful sights at home and abroad with my trusty camera, today my attention is caught by boots: old boots…recycled boots…in particular, a grungy pair of Doc Martens that gave my son many good years of service before being reluctantly abandoned. The wear of time shows on them clearly…they are scuffed beyond repair and losing their soles…yet something in me hesitated to throw them out when they were finally replaced. Instead, I plopped into each boot a small perennial salvaged from the shade of a tree…and together, plants and boots have happily settled in and flourished on my back porch.It can be said that I have an affinity for things old and decrepit, a trait more noticeable in my personality as I come closer to having those same words used to describe me! As an adjective, “beautiful” is more often used to denote things that are fresh, new and young. Flashy cars…spacious homes…a childlike complexion…all are examples of what can fill us with awe and arouse our covetous natures. We are seduced to believe we can enrich our lives by the acquisition of such wonders, if only we prove worthy of them.
Yet in my quest for all things lovely, I have always looked to the old …old friends…old music…old books…and old boots. Old boots keep me humble. Old boots remind me that beauty is not only in the eye of the beholder, it is also to be found in the everyday and the ordinary. Age does not diminish beauty nor preclude usefulness. There is beauty in comfort…in familiarity…in the knowledge that some things can be depended on to remain the same in a society where change is our one constant.
Embrace beauty at all ages and your life will become richer in what really matters...
