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Friday, January 7, 2011

"Deja-vu"

I've actually experienced deja-vu. I took an impromptu trip to Washington, DC and got lost. Somewhere in a pretty neighborhood of brick streets and large brick homes, a little dog ran away from a couple of children. I told my companion everything that would happen next as this little, seemingly inconsequential event played out in front of us.

I can't see how this moment in time mattered. I don't know how this odd wrinkle in time happened in the first place, but it makes me wonder about how the universe is stacked together and what role I play in it. Maybe I dreamed it before it happened? But even so, how would I know to dream it?

I was a poor college student at the time. I came home from class, and my boyfriend had packed the car with clothes and supplies, with our bicycles strapped to the back. It was probably his most spontaneous and best idea in our 10-year relationship. He didn't tell me where we were going until we'd hit the Pennsylvania border.

The bikes were great for riding from monument to monument, he had planned for me to see a friend living in Chevy Chase, and we ended up sleeping in a pup tent in a fishing camp on the beach facing the Atlantic Ocean. Lovely, wonderful, my first view of the ocean when the sun came up in the morning, and looking for seashells in the morning mist was magical.

But why did I have deja-vu in the first place? Why did the children and dog matter? Or maybe it didn't matter at all? We get to thinking that our lives are important and the world revolves around us, but what is life really all about?

Sometimes I think of this blip in time and simply remember the feeling of wonder I felt in the moment. Happy, laughing children and a dog running free may be the most important things in the world. The memory gives me a sense of peace and pleasure, and maybe that's enough of a reason for a fold in the continuity of time?

29 comments:

  1. Hi Linda! Talk about deja-vu! I was going to leave a comment, it vanished, so here I am again!
    I predict many more interesting, creative and psychic posts from you as the weeks progress! ;o)
    P.S.
    Happy New Year- Love the shiny new banner, too!

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  2. I think I can make the same prediction for you Michele!

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  3. Love it!!! Great work!

    love + luck + bliss,
    missysue

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  4. Lovely memory! I think the dog and children mattered because we want EVERYTHING in our lives to mean something, and when we pay attention and experience them, and tell stories about them, they do. It's a marvelous image, and I bet you anything that it's somehow part of your psyche, and when those real children and dog showed up, they just happened to match/fit.

    I really like your picture--they look so happy and carefree.

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  5. Great post (as always) Linda, I really love the way you question life. I have never experienced true deja-vu but have on occasions felt something like it. I do think that our good sweet memories are stored forever somewhere in our subconscious and as they are so sweet they get re created sometimes in other forms, just to give us a kind stroke of love.
    Very best wishes for a year with more than a few sweet memories. Jx

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  6. Wonderful post!
    Have a great weekend, Linda!

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  7. Everything has to do with everything.
    But time is not today or tomorrow.
    Maybe a second is eternal. And eternity a second. and things happen when you least expect it.

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  8. Thanks everybody! I love seeing what people are doing this week. So many different takes on this week's prompt.

    @Coreopsis, I think you're right, the kids and dog did become a part of my psyche, and

    @Jane, I think you have a lovely way of saying that they are a "stroke of love".

    @Roberto, Yep, I think I agree with all of that. Interesting way you have of seeing things in the world!

    It was a special moment for me, whatever it means in the whole, grand scheme of things.

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  9. @Falling Ladies, Thanks so much for the follow!

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  10. Jane is having a very generous giveaway for those of you who check out her jewelry and cards.

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  11. I love the feel of this painting - so "in the moment".

    I know what you mean about deja vu. They seem to have no significance other than the weird deja vu feeling. Sounds like a wonderful, spontaneous trip!

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  12. Thanks for the follow Missy Sue!

    @Abby, It was a wonderful trip. I need to get more of that in my life!

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  13. Wow! Your story is almost as fun as your painting!

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  14. Sometimes I wonder if we are really living our lives, or if we are all in a state of constant sleep, dreaming our lives. Little pieces of our dreams repeat and we feel the deja vu. I don’t know... your post just made me think of that ;o) Great post by the way and wonderful illustration. Don’t you love spontaneous unplanned trips? They are “magical”.

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  15. It has the feeling of being a free spirit, that's a wonderful reality!

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  16. Great post and lovely illustration.
    I think it is a wonderul memory. Good vibes, it makes me smile when I see children enjoying every moment of their playing time. Free from worries and full of smiles.
    Thanks by the way, for dropping by earlier :)

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  17. Heisann!

    Life is strange, and your memory is fantastic.
    Nice to follow you on the tour....
    Hope to have my illustration done within the limit!
    Hugs ;:OD)

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  18. Thanks everybody! It's kind of funny that I needed you to point out the freedom of kids chasing a dog :) I think I've gotten a little too bound up with adult concerns lately.

    @Jack, Interesting thoughts. Thanks!

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  19. Deja vu is one of those experiences that really shake our complacency about "reality." I've had several such & they jostle up my world view in a very beneficial way! They make me intensely curious about neurology & full of a sense of magic & wonder, all at the same time...

    Thanks for another thought-provoking post!

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  20. Very lovely. Makes me wistful for running barefoot in the grass, which is rather difficult to do now that there's snow on the ground. ;)

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  21. Thanks! I think I'm longing to run barefoot in the grass too instead of reshoveling the snow from my driveway.

    @Curious, I've heard that "magic" is just the things we don't understand yet, but I kind of like not knowing how some things work yet. Wonder can be a wonderful thing!

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  22. Your illustration is so sweet and carefree. I've always been curious about how we experience that deja vu feeling. All the things that have played out in my mind before they've happened have been really insignificant. I've often wondered why I see such little things and not more important things in life, where having that warning would actually make a difference.

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  23. Thanks for the follow Amalou! Good point about deja vu too. Why don't we have that feeling about the important stuff?!

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  24. Hey Linda, how's 2011? It's a lovely work as usual - takes us b ack to childhood - which Is when I usually had my already seen experiences. Weird isn't it? It's like we have another life within our own sometimes.

    sorry I have been busy so havn't been around much

    cheers from Oz

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  25. This is deep, but my brain is shallow at the moment, so all I can think is...You came to DC and didn't say hi? And the kid and dog - that's Americana! Nice!

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  26. @Andrew, I like that thought -- another life within our own. I may ponder that one.

    Thanks Deb! We're talking many moons ago when all this happened, so I didn't know to visit.

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