Day 86: Broken glass

When I was a kid, I used to accumulate burnt-out light bulbs in a paper bag and then take them down to the river to smash against the rocks.

In my twenties, it was vodka and gin bottles.

Last year, I got so mad at my computer that I hurled a glass of water against a table and it shattered in a zillion pieces. I was left to contemplate my anger as I carefully picked all those shards out of the carpet.

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Then I started writing a song about it.

That’s what I hope to do with all my anger and broken glass: Make something of it.

I have loved the look of fused glass ever since I first laid eyes on it 30 years ago. Today I deliberately broke glass as a creative act, for the first time – with an instructor’s help.

I took the pieces home with me after the class to play with, to design what will become a fused-glass sushi plate.

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I’m so sorry I didn’t learn to do this sooner.

Today’s penny is a 2014, the year of those shards in the carpet.

Day 86 2014