Between the covers of the yellow covered exercise book are pages written in my Grandmother’s steady hand. I page through it and words of others which touched her heart and her conversations with God jump at me. Prayers for all her children and grandchildren and great grandchildren penned down. A treasure trove of love, and conviction. A light shining on her understanding, knowledge and wisdom. How she experienced her place in the world, her life. Her perspective on the smallness of our lives pitched against the great forever of the universe. I miss her company, her wisdom, and above all – her prayers on our behest.

The ringbinder book is one Gran gave me after my father passed away midway through my final year at school. At university it became an anthology of other people’s words. Journaling would come much later in my life.

Two Afrikaans quotes from a first year student seminar in 1977 catches my eye on a page in the long forgotten book. Loosely they translate: “Every deed, every innocent little action, even the most spontaneous and impulsive is a seed, a small beginning sourced in your sub-consciousness. Action sprouts from a thought. Your bringing to life of your thoughts through actions, show those around you who you truly are.” And “never be so critical that you cannot become involved, but never be so involved that you cannot be critical.”

This is a favourite quote on pages:

“At first, all is black and white.
Black on white.
That’s where I’m walking, through pages.
These pages.
Sometimes it gets so that I have one foot in the pages and the words, and the other in what they speak of.”

― Markus Zusak, Underdog

And here my stream of consciousness takes over…

A page from a book cannot be taken at face-value. It is incomplete. A page left out of a book, leaves the whole story incomplete.

A mere page from a book browsed trough does not give context.

To take a page from someone’s book is a compliment, but that one page does not give the whole story. What preceded the example that you wish to emulate or learn from? What lessons were learnt, what life was lived?

Start at the beginning and turn each page only when read thoroughly with insight.

Turn pages slowly. Delight in the story and the words.

Remember the childhood joy when the letters on a page became words with meaning. The words on the page became a story. The pages unlocking worlds of wonderment and adventure.

Words on pages and pages in books let us travel to worlds unknown, without leaving home.

Pages introduce heroes and villans one would not have met otherwise.

Pages of some books hold up mirrors in which one recognises unknown parts of your own character, and helps you find and often befriend yourself.

Don’t let the pattering feet of pages bring messages that distract you from the whole story.

Don’t let pagers disturb your stream of conciousness.

This blog post is now a page on the world wide web and not stuck in my head.

Thanks Linda!

This page is part of #SoCS