Chalk

When I was a little girl, I’d go outside with my bucket of chalk all the time. I tried making pretty pictures, but would always get frustrated when things didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to. After a while I stopped drawing with it. I started destroying the chalk, pressing it into one spot of the sidewalk, drawing a single line. It made chalk dust. That was the “scientist” in me. I wanted to know what you could do with chalk if you broke it down into little, fine pieces. You can do so much with it. You can make new shade of chalk, you can make a paste to slap on the concrete, you can make a tinted liquid for more transparent colors.

I’d collect the chalk dust into a separate bucket so I could do all of these things. When it snowed, I’d choose a color, make chalk dust with it, then mix it into the snow. Can you imagine? Rainbow snow. That was my favorite thing to do with chalk. It made the white snow so colorful. I remember I “pranked” my parents with yellow chalk dust, and told them I went potty in the snow. But that was when I lived up north.

We later moved down south. It doesn’t snow here very often, and when it does it is nasty and mixed with mud. It also rains a lot here, so whenever I did decide to make something on the sidewalk, it wasn’t there very long. I drew a big fleur-de-lis in the driveway, and it was gone the next day. Chalk isn’t permanent. Neither was the snow. I would spend all of my time drawing these things that made me happy, just for it to be washed away or melted down.

Chalk taught me at a young age that nothing is permanent. Not even the bad things in life. I compare a lot of old friends with chalk. We had some really good times, but then out of nowhere they were gone. To me, everything is chalk. Everything will eventually wash away. Whether that be friends, family, love, hate, sadness, anything really, except for happiness. Happiness will always be there when everything disappears. So just remember... it will eventually rain and you’ll be okay.

Creativity is important.

Chalk shows you things. As a kid, it gives you a way to be creative. Which can then lead to other styles and choices you make in the future. Maybe you only like vibrant colors. One day, you decide to play with chalk and then realize how much you love pastels too. And since it is easily washed away, you can start over. You basically have an infinite amount of paper to draw on. But maybe you don’t like chalk because it is too messy. Chalk gets everywhere. And that’s why you should love it. Instead of having to color inside the lines, be crisp and clean, you can relax and just let go. Get chalk all over your hands and your clothes. It washes away anyways.

Authors Note—

Maybe I’m just crazy and reading too much into chalk... but I know there are other people out there that do the same thing. Or maybe someone needed to see this. So yeah, I read into things too much, but at least I’m not reading too little into it, right? Everything has a meaning if you break it down far enough. You just have to be creative with it. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box, even if it’s something so simple. Reach out for things you never thought you could do, because what’s the worst that can happen? Rejection? It will wash away. Parents or friends don’t approve? They’ll wash away one day and what will you have to show for your life then? Don’t be scared to be creative. Don’t be scared to dream big. If you make a mistake you can fix it. If you mess up in life you can fix it. Nothing is ever the end of the world unless it’s actually the end of the world. And when that day comes, don’t you want to be proud of the work and accomplishments you’ve done, no matter how “small”?