Do you see what I see?

In A World of My Own

Cats and rabbits
Would reside in fancy little houses

And be dressed in shoes and hats and trousers
In a world of my own

All the flowers
Would have very extra-special powers

They would sit and talk to me for hours
When I’m lonely in a world of my own

There’d be new birds
Lots of nice and friendly how-de-do birds
Everyone would have a dozen blue birds

Within that world of my own
I could listen to a babbling brook
And hear a song that I could understand

I keep wishing it could be that way
Because my world would be a wonderland

Modern child rearing experts love to expound upon the virtues of early-childhood-development.  I’d have to agree.  The formative years of my life were spent tightly wrapped in mother’s love of art, literature, biology and all things found in nature. She taught me as she practiced her daily chores, building in a life-long propensity to build my own world my own way.

Over the years I have considered my tendency to live in a ‘world of my own’ somewhere between a blessing and a curse. This afternoon, as I was writing a post to showcase our roses my Mother’s lovely little book of Lord Tennyson’s poetry came to mind. Carefully handling the century old kid binding and velum pages reminded me of the many hours spent listening to the poetry, the fairy-tales and the classic literature that mother loved to read aloud.

In case you haven’t noticed Contentment Cottage is a mixture of imagination and stark reality. It reflects my moods and emotions–from brightest sunny days to darkest lonely nights, and everything in between. Apparently that’s what creativity is all about.

In A World of My Own..
every bright new day I would
embrace every opportunity,
always make the right choice,
keep a sunny attitude,
and handle it with care,
making the most of every hour.

Once upon a time I was told, “the children aren’t allowed to read your posts because they are not the truth.” Those children are now grown and have moved on to lives of their own, but as I write, I wonder…”What if my early-childhood-development had been based on my Mother’s truths?”

Aw well, dear friend, I pray your world is filled with only the things you want to see.

Lyrics from "Alice in Wonderland"
Music and Lyrics by Sammy Fain and Bob Hilliard