Important Symbols

I have been working on setting up my room this past week, part of my birthday present to myself. This past week I finally got all my books out of their boxes and up on the shelves in both my room and the living room. I must say that the house is beginning to look like “home” now–well-loved books have a way of doing that. Now that the books are done, I’ve been diving into the last few boxes remaining in my bedroom–the ones full of knickknacks and bric-a-brac collected over my twenty-six years.

As I’ve been hanging up old awards, artwork I’ve done over the years, aging posters and the like, my wife has poked her head in from time-to-time to see how I’m doing. I asked her how the room looked and she replied, “it looks like your room.” In fact, it IS my room. The items hanging on the walls and sitting on my shelves represent me. Each piece of “junk” is a brief vignette of my life, a symbol of my past self. Though the last ten years have brought a lot of changes in my life–high school, college, seminary, war, my first “real” full-time job and, of course, marriage–thanks to these totems, I am still able to stay in touch with the Peter that was 10-15 years ago.

So, as I celebrate my 26th birthday today, I am comforted in knowing that 26 years from now I’ll be able to hold little pieces of my past and remember what it was like to be a newlywed and a new chaplain living in a new country (California).

Love,
Peter

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHAEL!!!