This piece was written for the Creative Soup Project instalation “A Day in The Life” which I was very happy to participate in. The rest of this project may be viewed at: www.creativesoup.org

Every fall at some point I re-stick all the stickie notes on my fridge. I had a little time before work and wanted to get it out-of-the-way-as-they-say. Some notes could go, even ones I’d had up for years. “Fix eight-track player in VW bus” no longer carried the urgency or relevance it once did. Same goes for “Arturo, cat feed.” Do I know an Arturo?, or is Arturo the cat? I can’t seem to bring either one to mind. Other notes will stay as they have for many years, Duct tape, even the new clear duct tape, looks forlorn and haphazard in the kitchen so I don’t use that. I thought of fiber-glassing over my oldest notes, but what if I needed a new refrigerator? The doors would surely not interchange. 3-M dry-mount adhesive spray from the art-supply store works well on these tattered missives. I may need my many notes with their cryptic amendments. “Write great book! (one that makes sense this time) and get rich! (explore more on how to…), those two had to stay. I needed room for something new.

One of the daily papers ran a photo of President Elect Obama hugging a young Iraq Veteran in a leaf strewn Park. She would have been on tip-toes to meet his embrace as he bent to meet hers. But she had no toes, or legs. Two carbon-fiber replacements were clearly visible between her warn flat shoes and her thrift store coat. Barack’s expression showed such a depth of compassion. His eyes, the set of his jaw spoke of his understanding, and of his intense resolve.

The picture is now eye level on my fridge. It’s like a book-mark, a kind of place holder. It reminds me where I left off yesterday in my revived commitment to be a empathetic and compassionate person. That’s more important, I think, than all the rest. Including the problematic Arturo, who might or, might not, be a cat.

by-Doug Mathewson