true to form

In cleaning my apartment I have fallen victim to the classic pitfall:

Pull things apart to organize - stop to reminisce about every. little. thing. 

But between the old photos and books I thought I'd lost (or not even owned in the first place) I found a plethora of random paper scraps with notes, bits of dialogue for future scripts, recipes and quotes from everyday conversations. 

No one is surprised by this. 

Among the rubble I found:

- a recipe for pad thai

- a recipe for baked peaches

- a note reminding me to mail Brigette's birthday present (which I did, eventually)

- a conversation between Montana Man and Slalom Boy about MM's 3 year-old:

SB: He's not good about "Stop it."

MM: Telling him to "stop" is like trying to tell a cartoon to not push the big red button.

(ha!)

- a pay stub from the restaurant I used to work for

- and, most importantly, three little bits of inspiration I had written down on index cards, old receipts and a used envelope which, I can only assume, Past Me left tucked in the mess for Future/Present Me to find when I needed it most:

The Journey changes you. It should change you.

-Anthony Bourdain

How little we understand about putting a price on the world's many good things. How seldom does the door to our hearts stand wide open? We put the blame on the fact that we have too much to do, that we must have peace and quiet to think and work, and so we shut out the sun. Only when it is too late do we see what we have missed.

-Harald Dahl (father of Roald Dahl)

And the last one has me perplexed. I wrote no attribution as to who said it or wrote it. Did I write it? The paystub inside is from my old restaurant and dated 5/25/2010. I hope I wrote it because if so it's a good message for Past Me to have whispered to Me now.

You've got way more options than you realize and a much wider range of opportunity than you give yourself credit for. It might seem unfathomable, but you need to give yourself a chance to explore every avenue available to you before settling on one. Just be brave and consider the road less travelled because the present time is perfect for making connections and expanding your boundaries. 

And so with that in mind, here goes nothing!