Blog Me a Metaphor

Blog me a metaphor, turn a phrase and replace its true meaning with another. Would if I could blog you a metaphor, but I can’t, because tonight my brain is a sieve. Not one thing that goes in stays long enough to make a difference. All I can say about metaphors is that my whole life is one, a series of ongoing metaphors.

It started off way back, when one day a long-long time ago I realized that I must be living someone else’s life, that my life was not the one I signed up for. My life was a metaphor, not of blue skies and sunshine, but more like a twister over Kansas. The life I knew and had grown to love had the rug pulled out from under, and all that was left was me holding on to the metaphorical “edge” by my fingernails.

Having arrived at life on the edge, I had to learn to navigate the planet with a different perspective. First the rules had all changed, and most days there were no rules. I had to learn to think by the seat of my pants. Improvise on the spot. Lie through my teeth and smile through adversity.

If mamma is good, the kids will be too. This metaphor for optimism is more difficult to execute than almost any task before or after. Sifting or wading through emotions, the ones that you wear on your sleeve and the ones you seek comfort for, disallow feeling good.

Mamma often felt like she’d taken a trip through hell and back, mamma sometimes did not feel good, no matter how hard she tried to fake it. What’s the metaphor for that?

Blog a metaphor, here’s one: life is a circle. The wheel goes round and round taking you into and out of the light, either you face the sun or the darkness.

Once upon a time I learned about metaphors. The ones that shape beliefs and daily do’s. I learned about give and take. I learned about living behind a mask of pretend, I learned about life lessons and what matters in the Big Picture.

I learned to be grateful for each new day. I learned not to take myself too serious, and how to laugh even when I wanted to cry. I raised the bar on my own goals and dreams. I learned to shoot for the moon.

Blog what you see, what you feel and what you hear.

Linda Merlino, author, Belly of the Whale, release April 1, 2008
http://www.lindamerlino.com

http://www.kunati.com/linda-merlino