One of the things I crave in this life is having a purpose. A reason I'm here. To be indisposable to someone. To add purpose and joy, perhaps, to someone else's life. In my 25 years of living, I'd say that my greatest purposes have been as a family member and friend. I define myself as a daughter, a niece, a cousin, a sister, a best friend, but when examining closely, I realize that I define myself only in relation to others.
Re-purposing, for those of you who don't watch HGTV, is a common (and somewhat of a buzz word right now) term for taking one thing and making it into another (hopefully at little to no cost).... Re-purping, as it is fondly called by my best friend Anne-Miller and me, is one of my favorite past times. It brings life to old, outdated things, and excitement to the people who get to transform or use the things for a new purpose. Anne-Miller and I have re-purposed a number of things over the course of our friendship... making old jewelry into new jewelry, bringing my mother's kitchen back to life, re-defining friendships and relationships to bring in new purper's to our club (Braden this means you), re-arranging furniture, painting my room raspberry pink (when we were in high school.).... and it's become a bonding thing for us. We thrive off of each other's creativity and ideas, but the best thing is that our projects always turn out exactly the way we want them to (or better!). At the end of any given project that we've done, always follow the words "I would have bought this in a store!!" or "I would have paid someone to do this!"....
There's nothing like the feeling of that perfectly finished re-purp, except maybe the journey that you took to get there. Anne-Miller and I are going to be starting a website, that will take you through the ever-creative journey of our re-purposed lives, adventures, jewelry, furniture, home makeovers, and everything else along the way..... (stay tuned for more details and web address)
The best thing about re-purposing is that, like life, it is a never-ending cycle. You can choose to leave some of the old characteristics with the new piece or make it something totally different and unrecognizable. You can leave a hint of what it was, while still making it what it is, and leave possibilities open for what it can become. I am going to re-purpose my life, and define it in relation to me, Callie the Creative, the crafty, the (still) best friend and faithful family member. I will be part of what I was, I will be excited about who I am, and I will be open to what I can become.
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