The #Cherished #Blogfest

Directive for the CHERISHED Blogfest, we invite you to talk to us about one of your cherished objects. Tell us what it is, post a picture of it if you like, and tell us why you cherish it.

Keep your post to 500 words. Place the Cherished badge on your sidebar, and help us spread the word on social media. Above all, join us in making new connections, and renewing old ones: visit each other and leave comments, try and follow your co-participants on your blogs and social media so they can follow you back.

Add your name and blog link in this Linky List, sign up for the Cherished Blogfest, and share your cherished memories on 24th, 25th and 26th of July 2015.
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Since others aren't writing about an object necessarily, I will choose not to either. Otherwise, you can read about that in an earlier blog post of mine. I actually need not take a(nother) photo or write as it is all here: http://xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2015/02/nablopomo-makean-inspired-dance.html in black and white and colour, photos in colour that is!

It took me a few minutes to think about what I most cherish. Objects provide temporary pleasure, but something more of a lasting nature is what I was considering. And then it came to me: But of course! (http://xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2012/02/communications-from-my-dead-twin.html)

Heart mandala (I made from stones & shells)

When it comes to something precious, one thing I most value is the size of a person's heart (http://xpressyouressence.blogspot.ca/2012/03/perhaps-analogous-to-heart-shaped.html), and yes, mine included! ;)

In keeping with that, friendships are very important to me as friends can be there for me at times when I need support that I think I won't get from my family. Also it's fun to enjoy community events and activities with friends.

Furthermore, I have come to realize the value of friendships having had none at one point in my life. This occurred when I left my entire support system behind, shortly after moving to British Columbia from Ontario. And having no friends is like a vacant room: bare, empty, and boring, lonely even!

I have felt lonely a big part of my life - distant past - and still do occasionally at times, though rather rarely as of late. Loneliness hasn't been an issue for me the past few years for the most part, and in particular this year with new people I have encountered in various networks.

Lucky me, this year it seems that I have been blessed with more friends than usual as I usually have had only one or two close friends at a time in past.

A number of people, primarily friends and some acquaintances live in my neighbourhood and surrounding area. A few in fact moved a few blocks below the highway, whereas I live a few blocks above it.

I am so grateful for that as I cherish their friendships. Hopefully they do likewise! ;)

Gems in Disguise

Photo of an emerald by Wimon Manorotkul

You – and I – we are gems: rare, precious, prized, and valuable. We glimmer and shine with brilliant and bright tones of royalty - emerald green, ruby red, sapphire blue - and are each unique - oval, round, rectangular, heart, pear, or marquise-shaped (like our personality), not to mention faceted and unfaceted (the latter analagous to whether we hone our shinyness. (I prefer my own spelling as 'shininess' doesn't look or feel right to me!).

Real gems have "inclusions" which are internal characteristics such as fractures, growth lines (!), spots, specks, and the like. Think of them as 'extras.' Aren't we as human beings similar? We have our fractures, spots and specks, and possibly growth lines as well that make us a one-of-a-kind 'gem.'

Depending who you are and how you see yourself, you may or may not think of yourself as such, but consider this: we are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, or a tapestry or quilt. We all are a part of the fabric of life. I think of a spider web as I write this as each silk thread is valuable in that it contributes to holding up the entire web.

Similarly, no person is more important than another. Each person is valuable as we contribute to society's intricate web in our own unique ways.

A perfect example of our preciousness and contribution, a work colleague came to visit last week with her recent family addition: a relatively brand-spanking new, baby girl. She is the epitome of a sweet and precious gem, a prize(d) collection!

Both mother and daughter add value to each other's lives in myriad ways, in addition to the partner and father (respectively). Can you now imagine a cross-section of woven threads?

Yes, that's me holding the baby gem (with permission from the mother of course!).

How are you a gem: what qualities, intrinsic and/or extrinsic, can you bring forth to light up the world?