Magpie

I am a magpie, collecting beautiful things into my life. Perhaps because of some acute awareness of my own normality, a sense of how ordinary we all are beneath everything, I, like so many, yearn to have beautiful things in my life.
I am not thinking of material possessions, not like the magpie do I crave the sparkle of jewels and precious metals. Money is not beautiful nor does it lure me. I will admit I appreciate the beauty that clothes, accessories and decorations bring into my everyday life but my insatiable desire to collect beauty to myself is not concerned with these easy methods of owning beauty. True beauty cannot be owned, only experienced. This is why is has to be gathered, collected, catalogued into the mind, into the creativity of an individual.
I've talked before about beautiful words, which I collect in my mind and in a document on computer. I have a tumblr account where I collect beautiful images. I have a camera to collect beautiful moments and sights and I have a tin to collect beautiful little objects; pressed flowers, buttons, postcards, notes and letters, ribbons and wrappings, beads and scraps of fabric.
But the place where I collect my most beautiful things is in my heart. The special moments you share with the people closest to you, the hugs and kisses with friends and lovers, those days of laughter with friends who you forgot you loved as much as you do. The moments where someone, who didn't have to, picks us up when we're down. When a stranger pays us a compliment, when a story moves us, when we surprise ourselves, when we make someone proud, when someone tells you they love you. These are the most beautiful moments, the little pearls the pressures of life reward us with.
Collected in the jewellery box of my heart with these moments are my life's beautiful people. These are the ones who didn't steal your heart, but made you realise just how it felt to really use yours, the people who make you smile even when you're sad, the people who make you feel lucky to know them, the people who inspire, the people that make you feel like you are capable of anything, the ones who make you feel like you are an inspiration. There is nothing more beautiful than a beautiful person who nurtures beautiful feelings and beautiful thoughts within you. That is the beauty I collect.