Dear Diary …. by Kellianne Sweeney

Dear Diary,

“Slip inside the eye of your mind,

Don’t you know you might find a better place to play?

You said that you’d never been,

All the things that you’ve seen will slowly fade away.”

I am quoting an Oasis song here. Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I adore poetry, song lyrics and thought provoking quotes. They do help me to slip into the eye of my mind where I do like to play. I find some rather creative thoughts and ideas back there and do my best to pull them out and sprinkle them into the hectic jumble that is my life. Part of what is back there, of course, are memories. Painful ones and sparkly ones. Let’s address those sparkly ones. I don’t believe that “all of the things you have seen (need to) slowly fade away.” The moments that have inspired us need to be kept in the forefront of our lives and incorporated into how we live instead of being tucked away as an awesome experience that is over. This moves us from merely Regular Life into Real Life.

My husband and I just got back from a lengthy vacation to Peru. The main purpose was the birthday of one of my husband’s best friends. The birthday boy’s mother is from a family of twelve and there was a turn out of approximately thirty friends and family from different parts of the world to participate. The family members are loud, they are fun loving, they are argumentative and they are tightly supportive of each other. And they included us as one of their own. The camaraderie was beautiful and the trip was packed with parties, sight seeing, jungle hiking, boating, sand sledding, tomb exploring and much wonderful food, drink and conversation. There were many inspiring moments during that trip. And I will keep them and use them instead of tucking them away as a wistful memory. This keeps me in the realm that is beyond Regular Life. Regular Life is what I refer to as the daily taking care of business existence. Regular Life is necessary because it is the foundation that Real Life is built upon. My idea of Real Life consists of what makes you feel alive and causes your heart to beat faster. It is the feelings created by breathtaking scenery, caressing breezes, uplifting music, beautiful food, exhilarating sex, side-splitting laughter, warm embraces, understanding smiles, adventurous thrills, new experiences, epiphanies and other such moments. You don’t only need to be on vacation to be participating in Real Life although that tends to be the goal of vacations. If you don’t let Regular Life blind you and bog you down you can find Real Life possibilities everywhere. Take care of business but don’t forget to slip inside the eye of your mind and look through that lens. Live out loud. There’s so much around you. Keep it in front and you’d be surprised how it colors everything else.