From the movie P.S. I Love You
"Find that thing that makes you like nobody else."
I love that line.
Makes me think of birds.
Yes, birds.
Embracing my bird fascination started with my grandma, yes,
but also this that I wrote a couple years back:
Grandma Marj had a unique appreciation for birds that became a natural part of my heart as well. Growing up next door, affection for birds seemed like a normal part of life. It never occurred to me until I went to elementary school that it was odd to call a bird by its proper name. After all, a black capped chick-a-dee was not a nuthatch, nor was a slate junco an evening grosbeak. Furthermore, to call it simply a bird was to disregard its unique identity. A bird has a name after all. The name was an intricate aspect of the masterpiece that each bird was.
A name. A unique identity.
We all have a unique identity.
And things that make us like nobody else.
We are not the same.
And that
is
good.
The thing that makes you and me like nobody else . . .
some people will
like it,
some will love it,
some will need it,
some will ignore it,
some will think it is foolish,
some will not even see it.
But what others think of it
is not as important
as being true to who each of us is made to be.
Even if those we want
to
notice
and those we want
to
celebrate with
are not interested.
It is ok. It may not be for them.
And that is ok.
And it does not mean we should stop
being what makes us like nobody else.
If I waited for everyone
I loved
to see and embrace and encourage
me to
write,
create,
photograph,
and to put it all together . . .
I never would have started.
And it is nobody else's responsibility
to find, to see, to embrace, to encourage, or to live
the thing
that makes me like nobody else.
The thing
that gives joy
to my heart
like nobody else.
It is for me
to be,
to live,
even
if
others
think it is weird or foolish.
"Find that thing that makes you like nobody else."
And embrace it.
Be it.
Live it.
*
This was a sneak peek into my studio for this week.
I have been taking these photos of birds
through the windows of my home.
See what others are creating in their "studios" here
at Jennifer's blog:
All photos in this blog are property of Jodene Shaw.
Copyright 2011.
