Thinking Outside The Box: My Life

I started my life as tree; growing tall and majestic in the forest. Now, I’ve had my life is transformed into an inanimate object. Or so it may seem, only I know better. I am a box. Destination unknown .So many things I could carry on to new homes. Being a box isn’t so bad. I get to travel to unknown places. I dream of where and what I can become. I know I will do great things. It is my destiny.

I would like to travel to the ocean to hear the sounds of the waves crashing on to the shore where I could be used to pick up seashells, ocean glass and small pieces of driftwood. I love to hear the delighted shrieks of small children and hear the laughter in the voices of the adults as they go on their beach adventures making memories for years to come. I am apart of it all.

I could travel across the country carrying gifts from East to West and North to South. I could be responsible for holding precious and carefully selected beautifully wrapped items for families from afar bonding them over the miles. When I arrive with a thump on the porch and the ring of the bell. I can barely contain my joy as I wait for the door to burst open and feel the excitement spill out. I will be carefully brought into a warm home and opened. There will be oohs and aahs as they extract my goods. I will be unceremoniously tossed into the corner for “recycling”. As I await my next journey.

I could come from a big noisy factory carrying large wieldy appliances. I am the armour that protects the goods. There will be grunts and groans as I’m carried out of the warehouse and wait to be delivered. Once the merchandise I was carrying has been extracted and placed in its new home, I hope to hear a small hopeful voice say, “Can I have the box now?” There in starts my next vocation.

Out come the colourful markers and stickers ,thick white glue, and glitter to adorn my plain brown sides. My renovation has begun. Once I’m beautifully decorated, I am accentuated with windows and a door. I will be filled with blankets and toys and wonderful books. I will be home to laughter and murmurs of little voices reading and soft light breaths as they fall asleep in their new clubhouse or fort.

I could come from far away lands flying to my next destination. I move by way of cars ,trucks, conveyer belts, forklifts, and boats or maybe in the cargo hold of a big plane. All sorts of my “kind” strapped together for exciting destinations and new adventures. There is something exciting about being dispatched from point A to point B.

I could be used to deliver foods. I imagine pungent smells of fresh earthy vegetables and wonderful herbs and spices bringing back feelings of my time in nature. Lucky for me I am often “present” as my charge is transformed into nourishing and fulfilling fare for my recipients.

I could be the receptacle for whole households as lives are uprooted from one place to the next. Packed with components that signify the end of one lifestyle to the start of a new one. I will be given the task of receiving things of sentimental value to be held for years to come as the are kept for the “next generation”. I will have junk tossed into my waiting folds to be “rehomed”. I will be taped, stacked, and moved on with designated instructions marked on my sides and notes such as: This end up, Fragile, kitchen, bedroom, or office. If I had to choose, I’d love to be filled with books for their library. Oh, the stories I could enjoy while I wait to be unpacked.

My final homecoming will be when I am dispatched to the yard where I will be exposed to the elements of my childhood once again. Rain ,wind, sun and occasionally a little friend, to become the home of a small animal seeking shelter. While I wait for spring where I will be shredded and torn into small bits to go back to my “roots,” pardon the pun. I will metamorphose as compost to be mixed with the warm dark damp earth to make way for a new seedling. I will be born again.