A New Photo for the Hallway

I have been preoccupied with decorating our apartment for the last few days. Our apartment has sort of evolved since we moved in six months ago. Slowly, but surely, it is becoming "home" to me and the place is beginning finally to feel like we have made our imprint on it.

It is not a huge place, but our apartment is adequate. If you walk past the kitchen, on the right, you will come to a short hallway. If you go to the right, our bedroom. To the left, the study/sewing room.

On the walls of the hallway, Marilyn and I hang family photos. We just added a photo someone took of us in our tuxedos at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. If you didn't know that we volunteer as ushers for the performances for the Broadway road shows presented, you might take us for one of the wealthy theater patrons who take in the shows. I gotta tell you, Marilyn and I, we look really good in that photo. I think that it is going to become one of my favorite photos.

Whether of not we look good in the photo is not the main reason I enjoy stopping in the hallway and taking in the family photos on the wall. The most important reason is that placing these photos where I cannot miss them is that seeing them keeps me real. I am reminded of the people I love and about what is really important in life: the wonderful relationships I have with my wife and my kids and my friends. I am reminded of the good moments I have experienced in my life and the places that are important to me. When life starts to look a little grim, I can look at these photos and know that no matter what happens to me in my life, there are going to be people who love me and who will help me get through even the worst things that might happen to me. Even when my life is being turned upside down by some tumultuous distraction, there is a place I can go to get centered again. So, you can see, this small hallway is a very important and significant place for me. It reminds me who I am, where I have been and who are the truly important people in my life.

The walls of the hallway are not yet filled up with photos. Little by little I will fill those empty spaces with yet more memories and more reminders of what a wonderful life I have been given and of the truly beautiful people whose presence have made my life so wonderfully memorable.