[Photo: the night sky above Abergele beach roughly 5 years ago]

 Connected

– bring together or into contact so that a real or notional link is established.

The word connected has caused me to have “The Colours of The Wind” stuck in my head for the afternoon, while walking around Suzhou Museum for an art trip. In the sing-song words of Pocahontas:

…and we are all connected to each other,
 In a circle, in a hoop that never ends…

I love the idea that everyone and everything on this great big beautiful Earth is connected in some way. It’s the whole butterfly effect, and of course, my main man Darwin. One person’s actions has a larger meaning and causes a ripple effect, yes this is getting very metaphorical etc., but stick with it. This may all seem very obvious, everyone knows this about life, but I truly, honestly, passionately believe it. Everything you do in life changes how the world is. It changes where you will end up, what you will do, how other people will be. It’s scary, but incredible. Maybe that’s why indecisive people have such a hard time. They mentally know, and freak out about the fact that whatever they choose, whatever they decide, it’s is going to make an impact and change something in their life, and they don’t have any idea what that effect will be.

It’s amazing to look back at things in life, small choices or decisions you made, and realise how they are connected to your current life. An example; If I had chosen to stay at home on Halloween night ’12 when in Hereford, if I had let the rain put me off, I would never have become such good friends with Isabel or Jamie, and my whole experience and life in Hereford would have been very different. I found a quote/phrase earlier this year which I really, really, really like. I even chose it as the quote title page for one of my photo album/scrap books. [See photo]

"When it is all finished, you will discover it was never random."

This may sound sad, and like I’m wishing my life away, but I’m so excited and cannot wait for the day when my life is all set; happy home, job, family, dog/rabbit etc., and I can look back at my life and find all the dots, blips, and points of my life that led me to that magical, mystical end point (maybe more of a check-point than an end point.) All the seemingly small decisions, the paths of my life that maybe didn’t quite go to plan, the random events which, at the time, seemed to put a spanner in the works, or send me down a strange and unknown road. All these things, when I look back at them, they won’t seem random or out of place at all, they will be like a star constellation, seemingly all over the place and disjointed, but when you step back, look back, you find the connections, you make the path that creates the image, the life.

Now. Let me talk about Darwin. My love for this man, his research and discoveries is strong. So strong in fact I used the famous Tree of Life sketch from his notebook as inspiration for one of my, [again, sorry Nana and Father), tattoos. This one is almost a year old now, my most hidden, but one of my most loved. It was probably the first tattoo I got solely for myself, just me, no one else. Just for me, my passion, beliefs, and interests.

I gave Sam (Rathbone) a picture of the page from Darwin’s notebook showing his interpretation of the Tree of Life, showing how all species originated from one common ancestor, and throughout history, billions of years, natural selection and evolution, branches were created on said tree. I also gave him a picture of a very delicate, simple branch with a few flowers on. He combined both to create my lovely and unique, flower/branch with a ‘tip of the hat’ to Darwin and his research.

My last point for the topic of Connected brings be back to my current life and situation here in Suzhou. The goodbyes have started, as I mentioned in an earlier post, and yesterday I said goodbye to Emily, possibly only until sometime next year, but also possibly for life. No matter if I see all these people again or not, no matter if we never speak or communicate ever again, we’re all connected, for life. We spent one year of our 20’s, the most exciting, adventurous, and simple (supposedly) years of our lives, together in this wonderful (sometimes bat-shit-crazy) country that is China. Nothing will ever change that, we’re connected by this experience for the rest of our lives, no matter what we do or where we go, that will never change. I think that’s amazing.

 I’m thankful for all the alternate routes, random paths, different choices, and unique people I have met and made throughout my life, especially the past few years. I still don’t quite understand some of them, how they’re relevant or where they are supposed to take me in life, but I’m sure one day, when I’m old, probably wrinkly, and with [even more] grey hair, I’ll be able to look back, play a game of connect the dots through my life and realise, everything works out, and everything happens for a reason, you may just not be able to see that reason at the time…