Out of the Mess... a Valentine's Collage

The table is transformed.  It's shiny dark wooden surface is completely hidden by a riotous sea of pastels.  Little bits of paper in pinks, purples, and baby blues are strewn about half-hazardly. Torn candy wrappers and half-eaten lapis lazuli lollipops dive under the river of cards. Red hearts, like little shouts of love, punctuate the portrait.

From a distance, glancing at the carnage with an artist's squint, this aftermath of my children's Valentine's Day parties is a thing of beauty.

Putting aside for a second the looming clean up and the sugar coursing through their veins, I simply take in the still life, noting the abstract patterns created by their excitement.

And then I remember how late I stayed up last night with the man who used to be my Valentine, taping 72 chocolate kisses to 72 little cards. Those 72 carefully assembled packages have been ripped into pieces and are now part of similar collages in nearby kitchens tonight.

Just the thought of all those messes is enough to snap me out of my artist's reverie and move back solidly back into mom clean-up mode.

Hope you're as relieved as I am that the pre-Valentine's festivities are now over. Now on to the romantic Valentine's Day celebrations!

This week's (W)Rite of Passage prompt is, as usual, drawn from Bird by Bird. The quote is, "The writer is the person who is standing apart. Think of those times when you've read prose or poetry that is presented in such a way that you have a fleeting sense of being startled by beauty or insight, by a glimpse into someone's soul." 


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