Vocabulary.
Slang.
Colloquialism.
Those hazy pearls of wisdom which are somehow bundled up in a mystifying sequence of words.
Hearing a new saying for the first time is one of life's little delights.
These well worn little phrases evoke for me the kind of old worldliness and nostalgia as the cause me to think about where we come from.
Those little things that make us up, from the quirky Christmas traditions and those old family recipes no one writes down or uses measures, through the finicky way someone likes their washing folded. All these things we have been taught.
All these things we have observed and been introduced to and taught to see life through.
As we grow the strings of words we have been given link together, sculpting frames for us to look out to the world.
Though I spend much of my day busy looking out through these frames, talking, listening, writing, thinking, it's a joy to be reminded to take a step back and see where these words come from.
To see my heritage where these words have been before, rebuking, teasing, teaching, caring; alive.
Not only this, but taking this step back gives me a glimpse forward; my future in the words I gather, and the words I give.
Sometimes, as they say, it's hard to 'see the wood for the trees'.
By taking a step back from my close-range inspection of life, to see my life as part of the narrative of those past, and those future, I'm challenged to use my voice, my ears, my thoughts, my words as best I can today.
