Ruth Nicholas *Little picture moments. Stories of a Lifetime* https://journeydots.com/feed Content Management/Blog en-us Sun, 29 Jun 2025 17:07:00 -0400 journeydots.blog@gmail.com (Ruth Nicholas) http://journeydots.com/one-word#60700 Sun, 29 Jun 2025 17:07:00 -0400 http://journeydots.com/one-word One Word http://journeydots.com/no-problem#54859 Thu, 04 May 2023 11:46:58 -0400 http://journeydots.com/no-problem No problem.

You don't have a problem, you have a condition. The human condition. - February 28th, 2023

]]> http://journeydots.com/there-once-was-a-girl#53886 Sun, 31 Jul 2022 18:11:30 -0400 http://journeydots.com/there-once-was-a-girl There once was a girl... Historian of My Existence
My memories are the building blocks of my history. - March 8th, 2022
Gasping for air I struggled to breathe. My throat constricted. Hot tears rolled as I whimpered, choked...
 
Thwap. Thwap. Thwap. Thwap.
 
My sneakers rhythmically hit the pavement, the only other sound interrupting the quiet stillness.
 
"Of course!" I thought, throwing my head back and smiling at the stars. "Of COURSE I don't have to get rid of it... ANY of it!"
 
An uncontrollable whimper choked out of me. I heaved laboriously, desperately sucking in air, catching my breath.
 
"My stuff matters..." I gasped.
 
"To me."
 
It was as if a tornado had touched down, snatched up my torment and flung it in a thousand directions. Releasing me.
 
I laughed with relief, shaking my head. I write to remember. To acknowledge. Grow and evolve. I always have. If it's not written, it's gone. Like a story without an ending... without closure.
 
In that instant, I realized I am the historian of my existence.
 
I breathed in my surroundings with resolute. The breezy Spring air surfed my skin as I ran through the softening darkness of a new morning.
 
I thought about my neglected memories. Mourned them. My face contorted, my eyes burned. A whimper squeaked out.
 
Bus tickets, credit card receipts, travel itinerary lists, plane tickets, theatre booklets, brochures, souvenirs and trinkets, all shoved into a box. Hundreds of photos still in envelopes. A trip of a lifetime ignored and forgotten. Collecting dust for over two decades.
 
Experiences that I never truly shared with family and friends. I just got on with it. With life. Got married, settled down, fell in line.
 
A significant part of my life, unacknowledged. Dismissed. Like it was no big deal. But it was a BIG deal...
 
"I'm keeping it ALL!" I decided. Vowing to end my decluttering guilt.
 
I clenched my jaw with grit and stepped up my pace. The sky now turning a gentle pinkish hue.
 
My memorabilia is not clutter. That trip literally changed the course of my life. It is my very own collection of untold stories...
 
That one day, I intend to tell.
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