Deep Graffiti or Where My Son The Philosopher Left his Mark

Hi Friends,

I’ve run across this post from time to time and each time it haunts me. The quotes are still engraved into the wood in areas my sons chose for their carving, their graffiti. If I look for it I see it and loneliness overtakes me. It reminds me how little time we really spend raising our children and how little we really know them.

I am fortunate in that mine call me at least once a week and we email frequently. And next week the two of them will be here at home visiting me and husb. Since their biological father died when they were young, my husb has gladly stepped up to the plate of step father. He too sees these marks and wonders about what type of man my young boys grew up being. He only knows them as young men  having come into their lives when they were teens.

This post is reblogged from my catalog of blogs published before in years past. This one from January 28, 2011 specifically.

This is about quotes from around the house, where I found Nietzsche, Einstein, and Anis Nin.

“We do not see things as they are

We see things as we are.”

— attributed to Anis Nin

. Every so often I will ‘see’ one and have it resonate.Turning around in the woodshed one day to my surprise I found this painted on the beam supporting the wood shed roof. My two  sons, Eric and Ben, went through their teens writing philosopher quotes on door jams, mirror dressings and otherwise insignificant areas.

 

Quote over mirror

 

 

“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.” — Albert Einstein

On their bedroom door jamb going into the room

“Institution of Insanity”

 

Institution of Insanity

 

Along the side

“M

E”

in thick black letters.

On the door going out is a visual carved  “ r e a l ?”

… whose letters grow bigger and bigger until the question mark overwhelms everything else.

It’s been more than 15 years since they were  teenagers growing up here, in this house and woodshed that their Dad built. They have  long since gone to college, found their true love, and bought a house of their own. When I visit I don’t see any inscriptions on their door jams, but I treasure them here, in the house of their youth, where I still live.

If your child painted graffiti in your own home, would you paint or sand over it? What if it held deep meaning? How do you feel about graffiti inside your home? Or outside your home? As always, I welcome your comments.

You are the light of the world.  I have tagged this with ‘travels’ as I go through the journey of my life.

Love, Clar

XOXO

See you back here Friday!