Indelible
What marks will you leave?
By, Gina Meyers
When I think of the word indelible, I think of a word that means literally and figuratively to “leave a mark”.
One time when I was an adolescent, in the summertime, my friend Kristin had a brand new white halter top, she was so excited to wear it and we were playing outside and as soon as she was showing off her white tee shirt halter top, no sooner, my ten or so year old brother Patrick got a black marker and drew a line on the back of the tee-shirt. I don’t know maybe he wanted to be a designer, don’t know if my friend’s mom was able to return the tee shirt to Mervyns for store credit.
In an instant, the the tee-shirt was ruined with an indelible marker.
On a more metaphorical sense, I think of the word indelible, what kind of marks will you leave on Planet Earth?
Recently, the Space X Crew came back to Planet Earth while being at the international space station for over two months. We know what type of indelible mark they are going to leave in the history books.
If we are talking pens, I’ve seemed to attract a lot of highlighters in my career recently.
Having lost three jobs in the past four months, I can casually say, “I’ve been trying to leave indelible marks” but they’ve only been highlights!
However, I see my teaching career and my writing and publishing career as more semi-permanent in nature.
Indelible, for however hard you try to get it out, it’s permanent.
I recently went to Macy’s braved the front door, the check out counter, used the hand sanitizer station, more than once, and stood with my mask on as I discovered the $19.99 rack, beautiful gowns, beautiful designer suits, like Calvin Klein. I thought to myself, “have we given up already on our dreams of the cruise to the Bahamas and on the wedding?” “What about that trip to Rome, Italy that was on the table for April and got cancelled and you had to fight with Allianz to get your refund due to a medical condition called extreme stress cause no one wants it seems to give you a break?”
Crisis averted and back to the point.
I found a cute, yet impractical white jumpsuit that was stained on the bottom with shoe scoofs it seemed, now the zipper in the back is destroyed and it’s one of those jumpsuits that you jump into regardless of if you have hips, which I do! Impractical I said, cause it needed a lot of fixing, I got a 10% off discount but they wouldn’t “use my birthday coupon” cause it is an actual coupon and it’s non-refundable. I was able to wash the outfit and get the stains out and may have an occasion to wear in the future, maybe even lounge around in it during my upcoming zoom book club I am excitedly joining!
There are experiences in life that leave an indelible mark on our lives.
My Grandma is almost a century old, she will be this October, I remember a story she has told about her 3rd grade school teacher. I think my grandmother was at least that young when she road her bicycle to school that almost fateful morning.
She was riding along a dirt road to the school house, all I know is my great grandparents purchased a farm when they immigrated from Italy (another story). Papa was a ranch hand, but we’ll save that story for later.
Julia was riding from what is now Kelly Park to her school. While she was riding her bike, just like in The Wizard of Oz, but only sinister, and quite unpleasant a band of gypsies surrounded my grandma.
My grandma’s teacher was driving her car when she saw my grandmother nearly abducted. She halted the car, opened the trunk, threw my grandma’s bike in the trunk and said, “Julia get in the car.”
It’s these moments that are indelible. These are the moments that leave a mark, a remembrance.
Some indelible moments are out of our control and some are more within our sphere of influence.
What indelible marks are you going to leave? Are you going to become a doctor? Write a book? Compose a melody? Dance? Sing? Become a parent?
Whatever your indelible marks are or become, just remember they are permanent, they are lasting.
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