ep!phany

I love thrift stores — you never know what treasures lie in wait. While visiting New York I was with Susan and Mark in Housing Works down on Crosbie St in New York. It was the first time I was in that particular store and I wasn't finding much to catch my eye, but then I spotted a Magritte-like image on the cover of a small box that turned out to be a set of cards. Marked $2.00 (with a red 50%-off slash) — I didn't know what they were but I thought — for a dollar I couldn't go wrong.

When I got back to my hotel room I opened the box and read the first card: "How does ep!phany work?" The images on the cards (49 of them) were meant to be used individually or in a group,  "outloud or in silence," to unblock your creative juices.  There were suggested ways to “play” them — "hit the wall," "brainstorm," or "the lone ranger," but I chose "constellation." 


Select three cards, assign them each a meaning (Past, Present, and Future) and then flip them over to reveal the connection between the assigned meaning and the symbol on the card.    
Here is what I drew from the deck:

Past = Ascent

This made sense to me. I had long pictured myself trapped in the slippery white bathtub of our family life with me (tiny as a Borrower) trying to escape the fast-draining, swirling water, scared and frantically clawing at the walls of the tub, no traction possible, continually fighting not to be sucked down.  While “ascent” didn't picture my white tub-nightmare, all through my past, I was always seeking a way up and out.

Present = Envy

I’m ashamed to say that lately, I do have feelings of envy. I envy people who don’t have to work.  I envy people who have enough money to travel.  I envy people who can do what they want to do.  When you're middle-class in this country, it’s frustrating and hard to be more than halfway through your life and still watching every dollar.  I envy people who have their mother and sister.  I envy people who put themselves first! I know, I know.  I have so much more than so many people.  We have all our needs and so many of our wants.  We have our kids.  We have our house.  We have jobs.  We have our health.  [I don't want to sound selfishly ungrateful, but the card surfaced and I felt I needed to say what it said to me.]

                                         Future = Answer  

Well, this image really just up and smacked me in the face.  Right there staring at me was this KEY; an image of something that I could hold in my own hands.  All those years and years of waiting for some one or some thing to make my future great — but this card was telling me: I could take that key and open the door to everything. It would unlock EVERYTHING.  These cards were speaking to me. 
I had the answer to my future. 


It was an ep!phany.  

OR could anyone interpret those same three cards to fit their past, present, future?