Inside the Spin-Mosaic Studio

It was with the antenna of a hermit crab that I saw the colorful load the black frame carried.

It was with the 360-degree eye socket of a chameleon that the tethered bindings were seen for more than what they held steady overhead.

This was the very picture, in literal literary form, of the "ties that bind": wrapped around and around and around; under, over, under, over, through. Like a ball of yarn stuck in a spider's web, there seemed to be no end to the tangle.

A buggy on the way to the lake? It was with the instinctive radar of a bat that I knew in an instant they had good friends at both ends.

As they say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Just don't limit the eye of the beholder to the two on your own face. Or, like a horse wearing blinders, your vision will be limited, indeed. Borrow from the bat, the crab and the chameleon as needed. That's what I was told.

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In a finale' moment of my 1st baby shower for my 1st blush-cheeked daughter in a pink bow, I was presented with a box of recipe cards. These were not recipes for food, but recipes for life: advise by mothers, sisters, and daughters who loved both me and my baby.

Many were flowing memories written as concise and caring as a 3 x 5 card could contain with a pointed moral at the end, "...let the children help in the kitchen! It's messy, but makes lasting memories." Beautiful. 

One card alone read like a fortune cookie: a riddle of curiosity.

"You will soon need to grow extra eyes in the back of your head. You will soon know fully what this means. Look for the ties that bind." --- signed with no name, but a heart, and a smiley face holding hands with a flared exclamation point.

At the time, my eyes squinted as if deciphering faint script from an ancient text in another language. I marveled at the momentary novelty, but flipped the white rectangle to the end of the stack and moved on to read the others. 21 years later, I don't recall the others; but, I recall this one.

These words have cloaked and unveiled many morphed and timely meanings over the years on my journey of parenting, teaching, adulting...and, driving on country roads in high-corn harvest season.

There was a day at dusk when my bug-splattered bumper came within inches of nuzzling the harness of a horse. In that jolting flash second, my mind believed the buggy materialized from either heaven or the cornfield. What farmer planted corn so far apart that a full buggy could off-road and joyride through it? No. It was an ordinary crossroads with zero visibility at high-corn season.

They didn't see me. I didn't see them. Until, it was almost too late.

Horses have pretty good vision. But, when the tiny black flaps of blinders are fixed over their eyes, peripheral vision is vastly limited. That's the idea. On roads with cars zipping by, blinders limit vision, which limits a horse's curiosity, which limits distraction, which minimizes anxiety, and keeps focus on their task: pulling a buggy one step at a time.

I have pretty good vision, too. But, assumptions can be as blinding as blinders. We cannot assume visibility in harvest season. It is my job as a driver (and a parent, and a teacher) to be extra wary. When in Amish country, drivers holding steering wheels must know to compensate for the limited vision of the drivers holding reigns and the horses at the end of them. The humans may not have limited vision, but the horses do.

In addition to blinder flaps, they have dichromatic vision. Shades of blue and green are natural to their eyes, but they cannot distinguish reds or bright hues. They are, however, very keen to motion.

With a wave to the bearded driver, we avoided collision that day.  The jolt of a near-miss awakened my senses to the peril of cornfields ever since. When red octogon signs perch and nod at corners like the preamble of a western square dance, ankles need to wake up and be ready. When the corn is high, a full jello-necked bobble-headed 360-degree constant awareness is necessary.

When parenting...

When "lifing"...

At the high corn-harvest time of year, a driver in the country has to grow the high-antenna eyes of a hermit crab, the radar instincts of a bat multiplied by the 360-vision God gifted the eye socket of a chameleon. It's a lot to ask of any driver, let alone a new one.

(*part of a painted Beach-Room bedroom mural I did once...)

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My oldest son will soon wear the crown of a driver's learning permit on his tightly gelled spike-topped head. When he is in the truck with me, I narrate the road and all surroundings out loud, just like I did with my older girls. Both girls are now rampant road cowboys. But, the training years were harrowing on my nerves. 

I want my thrill-seeking son to know what's going on in my mind as I make driving decisions before he is the one to make the decisions. I want him to know what my eyes are looking for and how the eyes trigger instincts even before they trigger actions. When he drives, he needs to see like a hermit crab, a bat, and a chameleon all at once. Driving, and life, require the eyes of the soul.

"You have to see well before you can drive well!" This is a mantra within our out loud road narration-navigation lessons. It's similar to, "Look before you leap." But, less frog related. I prefer bats, chameleons, and crabs.

**(from a tiny abstract prayer-journal mini-sketch)

I tell him about horses that wear blinders. I tell him about hermit crabs, bats, and chameleons. This is how to see...especially at a crossroads and in life. All three perspective are needed: the high-view, the inside-view, and the full-round view.

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On a sunny late-harvest day in Amish country, this is how I was driving and seeing as I widely and quickly surveyed. I turned my head to the right looking for oncoming vehicles through crossroads heavily shrouded by cornstalks...and saw this traveling away in the flash-glance.

Though it was brief, once you see something, you can't "unsee" it. I have passed many vehicles on the road that are not memorable, like the well-intended stack of flash cards. This one, I remember.

It was not just the bright colors contrasted against the black frame. It was not just the glare of modern recreation augmented by the old-fashioned ambiance of a buggy. It was not only the the cantilevered precarious balance of elongated hulls draping over the horses like long shadowed branches. 

It was the tethered binding. The ropes were tightly wound and wound and wound. Like an insect who stops fluttering to succumb to the spider's web, the passengers inside were sitting quietly, but bound, too. With the radar of a bat, I knew that these vacationers had good friends on both sides.

To stack a buggy like this, with ropes, bungees, and chains holding everything in place, the soon-to-be boaters would have had to enter the buggy before the boats were stacked and before the ropes were tightened. Friends bound them in.

To exit a bound buggy, friends would have to be waiting for their arrival to release the ropes that crossed over the door, remove the carefully balanced cargo teetering above the horse's heads, and do all this with precision and strategic timing...to avoid an avalanche. 

As if the bright cones or unusual scene could be missed, for good measure, a red scarf was tied to the furthest protruding hull. Scenes from a bull-fighting movie flashed in my head. A matador waves a red flag. The canoes are bright, but have no motion to attract the eye. The flag is small, but waves in the wind. Even a dichromatic horse with blinders on could see it...

The eye of a hermit crab, a bat, and a chameleon are also small. Yet, through the eye, the world is surveyed. Yet, the eye of the soul is keener still.

With the help of friends on both sides, we all carry our boats and our dreams to new destinations. Our journeys are tethered, colorful, precarious, and often shrouded by corn, but as the saying goes, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

Surround yourself with beholders. Be a beholder.

Be sure to grow eyes in the back of your head, too, like the white card said. When you do, tie on a red flag, so even the horses can see it.

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"May the eyes of your heart be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you...."

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*To see more photos of the Beach Room Mural, click here!

** To see the article featuring the chameleon-eye abstract illustration, click here!