to the shredder

For almost two years now I've had the same photo hanging on the bulletin board in my office. I spend great amounts of time working in this area every day and so I saw the photo countless times daily.

This photo wasn't the type that hangs on the wall, but you never really see. It hung on my corkboard because I put it there to remind me of how people change and I always had my eyes open wide when looking at it.

It was a photo of man standing in my living room, a friend at the time. Hanging next to the photo, has been a poem titled "How Do You Live Your Dash?" that I copied and put there. It reads like this...

For almost two years, I've read the poem daily, looked at this mans photo and finally came to a realization.

I was ready to rid myself of the burden and baggage of looking at him and his face daily. I knew it would give me great pleasure to put his photo through my paper shredder.

I proceeded to remove the photo from the bulletin board and laughed happilly all the while watching him shred. Collected the pieces and rehung him, shredded, back on the bulletin board. He hung as that mess for about a week while I showed a few friends who'd appreciate my efforts and then I tossed him into the trash like the piece of garbage the photo had become. The whole experience was good for me and rather therapeutic too.

Now all that remains on my board is the poem which I adore because I'm all about the dash.

And with the man removed from my board I'm now free to move on. Funny I hadn't really thought that a simple photo hanging there could hold me to the past but it did. Now free, I'm happy to have room to hang things that are actually important to me. Like my tax bill! ha

Jennifer