My life has been a tapestry
Of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision
Of the ever-changing view
A wond'rous woven magic
In bits of blue and gold
A tapestry to feel and see
Impossible to hold
— “Tapestry” by Carole King
Who am I?
It’s a simple question with a complicated, complex answer.
The query was posed as part of a recent sermon, and I began to think of who I actually am. In my life’s tapestry, a continuous weaving that stretches from birth until now, I am and have been many things.
I started as the third son of Dick and June and brother to Rick, David, Brian and Kevin. From the sooty air of the Steel City, I moved to eastern Tennessee, Kansas, northern Illinois and finally Aiken where I celebrated my fifth birthday.
The next 16 years of this life on tapestry was filled with school, getting glasses, growing oh-so slowly, making decent grades, learning about hopes, successes and disappointments. And then came life after school. What had been a relatively static period quickly took on new facets.
I became a sailor, not the kind in regattas, but the U.S. Navy kind. And there was a job. This was a real job at a newspaper that paid me real money (not the $20 a week that summer camp counseling provided). But those summers did provide a foundation of faith and a love of people that has continued.
At this point in my tapestry journey, I met the woman who changed my life and our family. We were engaged shortly before I went on active duty for two years, married a year into my tour and established our own household.
So who had I been at that point? Son, brother, friend, student, college grad, reporter, newlywed, sailor, church member, occasional golfer.
New, more significant identities came along after Naval service. I became a homeowner, a father when the first of three daughters arrived, a reporter once again, an adult in the land of my childhood. There were leadership positions in church and with community organizations. I was aghast when someone called me Mr. Wallace the first time. Was I getting that old?
I became a teacher and learned what life was like on the other side of the classroom desk. A return to the newspaper world took me into editing positions and greater responsibility with other adults under my charge. With each of these identities woven into the tapestry came new friendships as well as renewals of old acquaintances, new opportunities and challenges.
The years moved on, as they always do, and I became a grandfather, now seven times over. Then I retired but continued teaching a few classes a year.
The sum of who I am is all of those things wrapped up together along with being a Gamecock and Braves fan, national park visitor, occasional international traveler, lover of jokes and Friday barbecue, writer of Saturday columns and elder statesman of our part of the Wallace clan.
Who am I? As stated earlier, it’s complicated and complex. And that is not just me, that goes for all of us. It should give us something to think about when we tend to pigeonhole people into one slot or another.
He’s a golfer. She’s a politician. She’s a preacher. He’s a nurse. Those are all true descriptions, but they are simply a part of a greater picture for every individual. We are much more than others realize and sometimes more than we recognize ourselves.
Who am I? The tapestry is still being created.
"that" - Google News
March 20, 2021 at 11:00PM
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THIS AND THAT: The tapestry of a life is complicated - Charleston Post Courier
"that" - Google News
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