There are times when we find ourselves frantically searching for a lost item or simply clearing out some space in the closet, attic or garage. During our rummaging, we inevitably stumble across an old box containing items from our past. We then take a moment to reflect on the memories stirred by those special items.
In my case, I was only looking for an extra pair of scissors when I happened to rediscover one of my old plastic art supply boxes. Inside that old box, were several items that I had not seen in a while. Among those items was a Paasche VL airbrush that my mother purchased for my 18th Birthday. There was also a vintage Hunt Speedball artist pen set along with a full bottle of Speedball India ink. Although I hardly used them at all, these items were very valuable to me.

As I continued to explore each compartment of the box, I found two small brass medals. These medals were presented to me during my high school graduation ceremony. Each one represented an outstanding achievement in art for each year I attended that school. It’s been almost 30 years since that ceremony. Those medals didn’t mean much to me at the time. But, as I look at them now, their meaning has changed.

Instead of each medal representing one year of excellence, they now each carry the weight of one decade. That’s twenty years of dormancy. Twenty years of missed opportunities. Twenty years of sleepwalking in a dream without creativity. It took me roughly twenty years to return to my creative senses. During a difficult period in my life (somewhere between 2010 and 2013), I turned to art and prayer as my therapy and gradually started thinking and behaving like an artist again.

These two tiny medals will always serve as a powerful reminder of the young, imaginative artist that I once was. After giving both medals a good polish, I have decided to leave them out in the open where they are always visible. Never again will I hide them away for decades the way I hid my own talents.