the picture on the wall

You know when you hang a new picture on the wall? At first, you glance at it every single time you pass by. Maybe you even smile & stop to admire it. But then after a while, it just seems to sort of blend into the landscape. It becomes 'just' a picture. 'Just' a photo. You pass by it every single day, you see it... but you don't. Not really. It becomes something that's just there.

Until... one day. The day that picture gets taken down. You pass by that place where it used to hang & you immediately notice that something is amiss. You can't quite put your finger on it, but you know something is missing. So you look around & you notice the wall... & it is bare. Where once was colour, a dreamy landscape, a smiling face... there remains now only an echo. A rectangular imprint on the wall where that frame once hung. That square of paint which the sun's rays had never had the chance to brighten... until now.

And in that moment you realize just how much that picture transformed the place where it used to hang. Maybe it was for the better, or maybe for the worse. Maybe you miss it, or maybe you don't. But whatever the case, there is a valuable lesson to be learned from that picture: the little things, however little, matter. Maybe we don't see them, or maybe we like to pretend we don't, or maybe we just never stopped to look... but they do.

Look around. Observe. Admire. Because the little things, so often taken for granted, won't always stick around forever. One day they will take with the current & swim away. Please, don't let that be the day you realize how much they mean to you.

hugs, eve