Tuesday 29 May 2012

Close My Eyes and Think of Me

Yesterday Word Nerd posted a challenge and all it required was closing my eyes for a few moments. I can do that right?

Oh with out falling asleep, silly me!

Seriously, who am I, underneath all of this 'life' what is left? Wow this one made me think! cdnkaro and myself have both commented recently about the idea that photo's of us don't reflect the person we feel inside. I don't think that it is age related, although I often feel like a teenager on the inside, I am reminded this isn't the case when the mirror clearly shows the failings of my old lady creams!

I promptly closed my eyes and wrote down the first things that popped into my head. The images kind of came rushing out into the comments section, but in my haste became coloured with the things I love in my life. Over the last 24 hours this has played on my mind, a lot. I eventually had one of my legendary light bulb moments and realised that one of the characters who comes to me every now and then, who is often the subject of my writing that is strictly for my eyes only, is probably my alter ego.

For those of you expecting my usual dose of original writing, as is customary on a Tuesday, I apologise for the slight deviation today; you can blame Word Nerd! Now that said, let me introduce Faith, my alter ego.

view original here

Faith is a slightly thinner version of me, but not too thin, just nicely curvy. Her hair is short, curly and sun kissed, think Meg Ryan in City of Angels. She has a distinctly hippy style of linens, cheese cloths and faded jeans, spending most of her time bare foot but when needs must flip flops and floral Birkenstock's are her foot wear of choice. Doc Martins do however feature from time to time, sporting multi-coloured laces, for the lengthier walks she takes.

She owns a classic beetle, in metallic purple that is mostly stationary outside her modest beach side house. Her home is light and airy but about as far from modern and minimalist you can get before becoming cluttered. Nothing matches but everything has a synergy that is calming. There are handmade crafts and original pieces of art dotted all around. All of which have a story or a memory attached to them. The house certainly has Faiths personal stamp on it, there wasn't much work to do when she fell in love with the place but each room was treated to the Faith makeover when she first moved in. Her favourite piece of furniture is the huge comfy arm chair by the window that she can curl right up into it with a view of the sea. Many an hour sat reading, writing or just thinking, have been passed in that chair, cuddled up under the crocheted throw made by her own fair hands.

Every morning she wakes naturally and sits on the window seat of her bedroom to watch the sunrise over the hills and woods that spread out from the back of her house. After dressing and briefly completing the necessary chores, she takes a walk either on the beach, into the hills or through the woods. Her constant companion is the bag over her shoulder holding her note pad, pencils and a drink along with her blue rowan spaniel, Sam. They would wander for hours and always find a spot to sit for a while and write down her random thoughts. She is hard pressed to choose a favourite between sitting under a tree listening to the birds, on the beach watching the waves or on the hillside looking down on the world.

In the evenings she would cook simple meals of pasta and rice, with an occasional treat of Chinese takeaway. Always eaten by candle light and in the winter months she would sit by the open fire.

Occasionally she was joined by her friend, Dan, who would spend the days showing her the things around her that she had a habit of over looking; from old ruins around and about or the local wildlife. The evenings were passed sharing stories and good wine either sat by the fire or on the beach, listening to the waves crash in the dark. When Dan wasn't around she would write into the evening about what ever came to her, this way she would make enough money to get by, along with occasionally selling her own pieces of art and sculpture in the local artisan shops.

A family was in her future somewhere, sometime and she would stay here long after they had grown and flown the nest. She would teach her girl all the things she knew, they would be raised on a healthy diet of literature and the outdoors. In turn they would raise beautiful daughters of their own.

There is much more to Faith, but like I said for the moment she is mostly for my eyes only. Some writing is just like that. She is the me of my dreams, without life's complications!

If you haven't already tried this check out Word Nerds challenge and see what happens, it is much more thought provoking than you first think!

10 comments:

  1. I like the idea of the alter ego...might explore this further. Thanks for the shout-out!

    p.s. In City of Angels, I think Meg Ryan was at her most beautiful. I still remember how she looked in that movie. Stunning! Excellent choice:)

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    1. I love it, you are the first person ever to get what I mean about Meg Ryan...I am a happy bunny :-D

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  2. I REALLY love that you did this--and with such thoughtful detail! Can I come hang out on the beach with Faith? She (and her place!) sound wonderful.

    Oh, and thanks for the linky-love! :O)

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    1. It was a great challenge, thanks for the prompt.

      We could hang out any time ;-)

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  3. Simply lovely! Faith seems so much fun to hang out with! Perhaps I would drop her a line and tell her that she can alternate b/w the beach and the tree. Oh ... I love candle lit dinners as well. :-)

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    1. Happy and carefree, with no worldly worries to keep her down!! Ha strictly in my head then!! Eating by candle light is fun right!!

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  4. I love that this is part of you. That this is you deep, deep down. What an interesting exercise, because I think in blogs we see a lot of who people are in their current lives and schemes, but not very often (if ever) do we see so deep into a person's feeling about themselves. Gosh, it's difficult to even comment correctly about it. This was awesome, though. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks Deb! I think this inner me had been trying to come out in my writing for a while. I think she needed an out some way some how! Two girls and a life kind of puts a halt on such a care free existance; although I do get to sit under a tree writing some times and I did once own a dog called Sam!

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  5. This is a fascinating concept that I've never really given much thought to. Thanks for inspiring me to take a look at it. I am off to Word Nerd's to see what inspired this for you.

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    1. It really is quite liberating when you strip it all back and see what is under there. The stuff dreams are made of!! I look forward to seeing the inner you :-)

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Penny for your thoughts

PS Thanks for taking the time to stop by