THE JOY OF LIVING

A series of essays.....

Paris 2003 ~ Where People Meet To Talk, Eat, Drink, Love, And Watch The World Go By!

.....as seen through my eyes!




By: Jacqueline E. Hughes


You would had to have lived under a rock all of your life not to be somewhat familiar with the French, and highly universal phrase, 'joie de vivre.' The joy of living! Maybe you don't pronounce it quite correctly in French. That's okay. At least you try. Maybe your spelling is off a bit. That's why the Internet exists.....certainly for me, anyway!

This past Friday, November 13, 2015, I reasoned this phrase, this inspiring interpretation of life, must have died along with all of the poor souls that had been so wrongfully taken away from us during the late hours of a charming Friday evening in Paris.....France. I couldn't have been more wrong!

I believe that the spirit and joy of living, enjoying life, people, and the world around us, has, if nothing else, intensified. Everything that 'joie de vivre' implies makes us realize even more how precious this feeling of happiness and excitement about life truly is. Especially when such barbaric attempts to eradicate its 'pure joy' is alive, well, and, seemingly, unstoppable.

Perhaps you were acquainted with one of the victims or with members of their families. In this age of social media, this is even more probable than any other time in our history. The question is asked, "How do we, the survivors, continue on after such a loss?" It's still life......we know it is different now but, it's still life and so many others have become more dependent upon those who have been left behind to pick-up the pieces.

There are children made orphans; spouses abandoned by the loss of their husband or wife; survivors instantaneously categorized as a single parent; older parents losing an adult child and, so much potential for giving back to others lost in moments filled with pure  evil and hate. The carnage was only half of it; so much more seems to be at stake here. I realize it's the human beings left behind, like pieces of a gigantic puzzle, they take on the shape and curvature needed to fill in those spaces created by the loss of each one of those lives. 

You might ask what could possibly be the protocol for rising above such depths of despair? Is there really a simple guidebook or set of rules governing the aftermath of such grave, unexpected loss? Not really. However, in my admiration for the French people and their particular design on everyday life, joie de vivre still shines through the fragile cracks like much needed sunshine after a long, arduous storm.

Afraid, hurting, and reeling from the massacre of their fellow and worldly citizens, Parisians, being themselves, being French with everything applied to this title, cautiously began to fight back in the best way they knew how. Fitting each word together like a novelist creating  her next chapter, Parisians knew that the hate mongers   could not take away the high spirits, gaiety, exuberance, and zest for life they chose to enjoy and define themselves by. At least, not for long. Their next chapter, their brand new story, was not going to be based on the hate they had recently experienced first-hand. Life is meant for the living and the French, especially Parisians, know how important it is to live life to the fullest.

And, this is precisely the attitude that most of us who love and admire the French lifestyle are drawn to. We are moths seeking the flickering, bright flame we associate with owning élan and want to experience the rush of adrenaline served-up to the French as a birthright.

Daesh. Daesh is an Arabic word meaning a group of bigots that impose their will upon others, according to "Morning News USA." I remain uncertain as to why this group dislikes this title so much considering the terminology seems to fit so perfectly. I believe that most of the insane and radical reasons that Daesh chose the particular venues that it did last Friday was its attempt to cripple the youthful spirit and extinguish the bright light of joy and hope that flourishes within the heart of each French person. The flame may have sputtered and almost gone out that night but, the French, Parisians in particular, will never allow that to happen.

My question is this.....  Do we fight hate with hate? Do we allow fear to be the negative beacon that lights our path to a worldly disaster? And, do we allow Daesh to cripple our sensitivities to the point of filling our own hearts with hate, as well? You know that is their goal. If we hate, we will be just like them.

Unfortunately, by not accepting the innocent human beings, the refugees who are attempting to escape the senseless slaughter and injustices inflicted upon them in their homeland, we are heading into a new world that even 'joie de vivre' will not be able to penetrate. The governors of each state in America who have chosen fear over love and common sense when it comes to offering refuge to living breathing souls are falling deeply into the patterns of the same hate dictated by Daesh and al-Qaeda. You can be certain that they will be warming the pews of their religious affiliation of choice this Sunday with more than enough smiles and handshakes to go around.

The general hypocrisy of mankind is based on many things with power, money and the fear of losing the next election being among them. Although, power and money, in my estimation, are one and the same. Fear, hatred, and greed has polarized the United States for way too many years now. It is time to inject our own 'joie de vivre' into the world we call home and live, laugh, love, and even, disagree with one another while we kiss and embrace the moment.

I often tell my two girls about the open-minded concept concerning social topics that their father and I experienced while attending Michigan State University back in the late sixties. It was common to walk through the study areas of your dorm at midnight only to find groups of students hotly debating various ideas generated by class discussions or particular world affairs and events. We didn't have a cell phone attached to our faces and we relied on our knowledge and personal opinions to feed the conversation. Not seeing eye-to-eye was all part of it. Talking with one another and sharing views was healthy and there wasn't a computer to lean on when a discussion got heated. I miss those days for so many reasons. We have lost the art of face-to-face communication and I find this to be very worrisome.

I will be honest when I say that writing about the terrorist attack on Paris that took place last Friday was difficult for me. First of all, I had to calm down a lot and try to make some sense out of a senseless situation. Still haven't accomplished this one yet. I had to employ many of my own beliefs with regard to love vs. hate, good will always overcome evil, having faith and hope in mankind will conquer all, and showing kindness and forgiveness towards others will bring joy into my heart and soul. I questioned myself on all counts just as I had done after the destruction of the Twin Towers in 2001, the realization that the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, could destroy and murder his own people, trying to understand the multiple suicide bombings that have killed thousands of innocent people, and commercial aircraft being taken out of the sky by various means in order to kill thousands more.

I sit back and shake my head in wonder.

Daesh believes it has found our Achilles heel. It has learned that to strike terror in others, it must completely destroy the joy in their life. It must deplete the innocence we were born with and insert fear and hatred in its place. It has learned to attempt to destroy the creative side of our natures by crumbling great works of art and wiping-out the visual history of statues and monuments that represent some of  man's greatest achievements. It wishes to relieve us of our freedom of speech, as well as the sheer joy of sharing thoughts and ideas with one another. Daesh knows that to kill the body is the only way it can be assured of accomplishing this.

Planting terror into the hearts and minds of free thinking people would mean one thing......successfully extracting the 'joie de vivre' that exists there. This past week tells us that the French, Parisians in particular, will never allow anyone to deplete their 'raison d'etre,' reason for being, or dismiss their Joy of Living under any circumstances!


Copyright © 2015 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved

Photograph Copyright © 2015 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved

DAYDREAMING

A series of essays.....

My Photographic Interpretation of an Impressionistic Painting Entitled:
"Poolside" and Taken During the Summer of 2007

.....as seen through my eyes!




By: Jacqueline E. Hughes



The perfectly angled autumn sun pours its golden light down upon the swirling water and the reflection of a thousand dancing fairies shimmers above me on the high-glossed, paneled ceiling. I am sitting on my lanai and daydreaming. Staring up at the tongue and groove boards, I observe brilliant white light, texture, and fluid movement as the nymphs play their afternoon games of hide and seek. My heart is filled with joy!

I have always been a daydreamer. Sister John-Marie understood and encouraged me. As long as I was able to answer her questions when called upon in class, my fantasy worlds were windows of opportunity for me, as far as she was concerned. Yes, she always understood. A fellow dreamer, perhaps?

Not every Sister or lay teacher I had in Catholic school was able to perceive the importance of my mini-travels to the stars and back. Avid reading, however, was acceptable, and I always did my fair share of that. After exhausting Carolyn Keene's adventures with the help of Nancy Drew, I set my sights on F. W. Dixon and checked-out as many Hardy Boys Mystery Stories as they would allow me to each week from our small school library. The bus ride home each day was extensive and permitted me ample time to consume multiple chapters before hearing the 'whoosh' of the bus door closing behind me.

The addition of writing coupled with the joy of reading came early on in life. Begging my Mother to purchase extra notebooks for school, I would turn them into spiral bound journals filled with line after line of cursive script intended for my eyes only. Carefully hiding them in stacks beneath my bed, it was never my intent, at that time, to share my past, present, or future with another living soul.

The nomadic lifestyle imposed upon my family due to my Father's employment made it difficult to hide much beneath my bed for very long considering the floor it rested upon changed from one year to another. The dust bunnies barely had ample time to accumulate. Not only was I a wanderer within my own head, but with each move and having to adjust to each new school, new house, and new set of friends, our small 'restless mobile society' contributed to my need for movement and travel later on in life.

When my Dad decided to finally settle down, he brought us to Michigan where I was enrolled in our public high school that included an eighth-grade level program. Growing-up required bidding adieu to the ladies donning black habits and beaded rosary accessories one year and hello to walking the halls alongside a student body that was eighty percent older than myself. I was now changing classrooms each hour and having to consciously recall my locker combination or be left standing alone in the hall like a fish out of water. I survived and matured because of the experience.

It was around this time that two amazing realizations occurred that have served to mold and change my life forever. I fell in love with France, all things to do with France and knew that I could consciously submerge myself in her culture, language, people, and history and be happy the rest of my life. Secondly, it was time to share my thoughts with anyone who would be willing to read about them. I became a writer at fourteen years old. My first poem entitled "Time" was published in our local newspaper and after that, I never looked back.

There is a fine line between the conscious and the subconscious mind. Traveling between them can be an interesting adventure, especially when the journey itself is used as a coping mechanism allowing you to exist despite teenage challenges. The observation of 'visible energy' surrounding me was developed, encouraged and always felt natural. After all....I had had several years of practice by then. I often relied upon my vivid imagination to transform a negative situation into a positive experience.

To this day, daydreaming, triggered by visible energy, attracts me like a Super Magnet. Pulled into a vortex of encircling emotions and ideas, my interpretations can be transformed from the ordinary to the extraordinary in moments. Unlike most of our stage five dreams at night during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep that may be forgotten upon awakening, daydreaming affords us the luxury of sustained recall. In case you were wondering, yes, I do sleep with a pad of paper and a pencil on the night stand.....just in case.

The motion that triggers a reaction in me and stimulates my desire to daydream can be as complicated and exquisite as being transfixed by the languid shadow of the backyard live oak tree as it spills its brilliant summer colors onto the swimming pool's aquamarine ripples. Or, as simple as the sunlight reflecting off of my watch creating 'Tinker Bell' choreography on the family room walls. Light. Motion. A  combination capable of bridging the gap between conscious and subconscious thoughts and my personal recipe for a creative concoction certain to be utilized, expanded upon and served-up with imaginative flair in the near future.

Looking up at my dancing fairies this afternoon as I daydream the moments away, I am reminded of a quote by Sir Richard Branson, the highly successful English businessman and investor who said, "Don't ever let anyone prevent you from dreaming. Imagination is one of our greatest gifts. Don't just dream it. Go out and grab it with both hands."

Daydreaming is as close to reality as I sometimes want to be and it is much more important than the simple involvement of idle reverie or indulging in pipe dreams. Daydreaming has been and will always be my way of witnessing and then describing the softened edges of a granite hard world.....through the eyes and soul of a writer.


Copyright © 2015 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved

Photograph copyright © 2015 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved

JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE....HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

A series of essays.....

.....as seen through my eyes!



By: Jacqueline E. Hughes



BIRTHDAYS........

are intimate reminders of the progression of life; a sweet, generous time to reflect upon the past and look forward with joy to what awaits us in the future. Birthdays are the exception to the rule when it comes to living in the moment. A twenty-four hour sabbatical from the ordinary by which we deviate from daily routine, celebrate each amazing breath we take, and challenge our efforts to advance as a soldier making a push toward the incomprehensible sea.....limitless, boundless, infinite, vast.

Markers....like small road signs clicking off each mile of the super highway, the years pass by with the sun's glare bouncing off reflective aluminum surfaces, teardrops of rain sliding down a cool, smooth veneer, and numerical significance masked behind Winter's accumulation of sleet and snow. Tick...tick....tick. We carry-on with each revolution, rubber meeting the road, as our mind advances the count and our heart begins to understand the inequitableness of this journey. There is no reverse on this stick shift. Best to allow our hair to fly freely in the wind and truly enjoy the freedom of the open road......every day.

As the single, tiny flame simulates the frenzied dance of a whirling dervish, the addition of each flame accumulates to resemble a 'bonfire of life,' a talisman of experience that sits proudly atop confectionary bliss to be shared by everyone participating in this magnificent celebration. The yearling son or daughter is given his own small cake to devour as he sees fit with the gusto and creativity displayed by this ritual, perhaps, foreshadowing his life's potential and style. The candle's golden glow highlights each wrinkle of the centenarian who basks in the satisfaction and rewards of a job well done, surrounded by friends and generations of family that carry on his legacy in the guise of an upturned nose or a feisty temper......!

Alone. Many of us glide through this world within a solitary bubble, our purpose for living never surfacing to the top level of comprehension, we free fall like an autumn leaf newly released from the Tree of Life. The breeze shifts and blows us about while sets of various circumstances attract us like metal shards to a magnet, certain conditions or events control our actions as we float down to gather among the other silent souls on the ground. Even surrounded by the multitudes, we can be alone, ticking off the years in a silent quest for closure, bringing an end to the crushing pain inside. My birthday wish for you would be the accumulation of an abundance of hope in your life and love in your heart. Only then would you be able to understand your purpose for living. Only then would you not be fearful, sad, and alone as you grow older.

Birthdays can be more about giving to others than about receiving from them. There is a similar reasoning behind many of us who find it difficult to accept praise or high recognition for things we've accomplished. Let's face it.....it is easier to give than to receive. Some may not agree with this. However, we have been known to blush at the prospect of praise yet, forthrightly seek it out by making the effort of being the best person we can be.

This ritual of 'giving and receiving' extends to many traditions and life changing events. We gather at weddings to honor the bride and groom and 'gift' them in order to make their future life together more abundant and enjoyable. The bride and groom give us 'tokens' of their appreciation, feed us, and let us eat cake in celebration. Marie Antoinette would have understood!

Age. Another word for experience, a badge of courage and the continuance of comfort and pride worn like a familiar hat for years and shaped to the contours of our head. Age reminds us that we have something wonderful to show for time well spent with our tiny scars worn proudly. We should not allow the exterior to overshadow the marvelous beauty of our mind and soul. Wrinkles are inevitable; acting old is not.

Often, the body ages as the mind remains vibrant and young, open to new ideas, and still eager to learn about many of the old ones. This may be the most appropriate meaning and application of The Fountain of Youth, highly coveted and sought after. Thankfully, the external signs of aging can be a long, slow process especially when one consciously leads a healthy lifestyle including exercise and eating well. After all, good health holds the key to happiness and may be the freshwater source that restores (in this case, maintains) the youthful qualities of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters.

No two individuals feel the same way about or celebrate their birthdays in an identical manner. Being surrounded by several close friends may be the ticket. Renting a large hall and dancing the night away with hundreds of others may be your thing. Naturally, we know that conditions may be enhanced or restrained by certain economic and social positions.     
 
As for myself, knowing that I am loved allows me to enjoy the day of my birth to the fullest! My family and many friends may live miles away, but I always feel the warmth of their love each year. They all serve as intimate reminders of my life's progression and I am eternally grateful to them for this. And, the sweet joy of grandchildren is like the proverbial 'cherry on top.' I am very blessed.

By the way, no cupcakes for me! A generous portion of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, please. Oh, and you can hold the candles for now. We all know that the smoke from just one candle will carry my prayers to the heavens and represent the Light of Life. Besides, reaching centenarian status is a long way off.....for now. I will celebrate with a big bonfire then.


Copyright © 2015 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved