As a creative, daydreamy writer-type, it doesn’t take much to send my imagination swirling. But there are some things that are sort of dreamy little hot-buttons, and despite the fact that I’m An Adult now I still regress into childlike wonder whenever I see them.
Small doors ““ You look me straight in the eye and tell me there’s any way that small doors don’t lead to magical lands or alternate universes. You can’t do it. (I’m just thrilled that Coraline has now passed the small-door fear/curiosity onto the younger generation.)
Abandoned warehouses ““ Oh, these are great. What dead or dying industry used to be housed here? What did this place look like when the windows were clean and it was full of activity and work and noise and life? Less whimsically, what kind of drugs are people doing in there right now? And when they sprayed “fuck you” on the windows, did they mean you plural or singular?
Evidence of former stairs ““ Have you ever noticed this before? Sometimes on the side of a brick building you can see the outline of where some kind of stairs used to be. Or! Even better! In the woods or something where they’re all overgrown with moss and weeds. Why were they there? Where did they lead? How have we, as a society, failed by allowing these stairs to fall into disuse?
Overgrown gardens ““ I devoured The Secret Garden (both the book and the terrible, terrible TV movie) throughout my childhood, and so I place the blame for my overgrown-garden fascination squarely on the shoulders of Ms. Frances Hodgson Burnett. I think it’s because gardens are rarely accidental; they’re planned and plotted and cared for, and then suddenly”¦not. Mystery!
Dropped toys ““ Yeah, fine, this is kind of a sad one, but come on. Don’t you wonder about little toys and things that you see dropped somewhere and wonder how they got there? Then you remember that stories like The Velveteen Rabbit messed you up for life and may or may not be responsible for the fact that you still can’t get rid of your 20 most cherished stuffed animals? (And no I didn’t see last year’s Toy Story because I heard it was devastating. And I can’t handle that.)
Honorable mention: Small tunnels, blue holes, old billboards
So, help me out here, friends. Please tell me I’m not the only one that feels this way. And did I miss anything?
Photos: Getty
8 replies on “Scenes That Instantly Ignite my Imagination”
The ones in the forest – yes! Those are fairy steps! They will take you to where the fairies live, but only if you BELIEVE.
Cliché, but: ruins.
Also, springs or wells.
Nothing sets my imagination going more than a quirky oddly dressed person muttering to him/herself, someone in a hurry, two people in a heated conversation, an old woman with a big hand bag . . . I’m a people watcher and I find people fascinating. I look at someone across the train and I wonder what’s your story?
Pictures are whole another story! I look at them and they tell me stories. I can’t really explain it and I don’t want to! I just know if you show me a path that leads to no where or a tree house I can see the scene in my head and walla, a story!
You know what you missed? Well, I can never pass a wardrobe without having a desperate urge to jump inside and see where it leads!!!
Overgrown train rails that seemingly are going nowhere! One day I will have the guts to track along and walk them ’till the end of this dimension, where they surely must be going.
Can we be best friends?
All of those things make me think/hope the world is a great deal more magical than it looks, especially the little doors!!!! also on the list are old, decrepit farmhouses, creeks in the woods, forests in general, being underwater, and dollhouses.
Sort of related:
My husband is always telling me I’m cuckoo for cocoa puffs because I imagine that inanimate objects have feelings. What you said about not being able to throw stuffed animals away…that is so me. I have lifetimes worth of them stored away. My poor son inherited so many stuffed animals when he was born he’ll probably hate me forever. I cannot throw them away. I imagine they all have feelings and would be heartbroken forever if I were to part with them and abandon them. In fact, I can’t even walk by the holiday aisles in places like Walmart or Target and see all those poor stuffed animals with their dead eyes, dressed up in easter bunny ears or holding valentines chocolates. It breaks my heart that I can’t buy them all and give them a home.
I may be going slightly mad.
I totally feel you. I blame The Velveteen Rabbit.
Wishing wells. Train tunnels/mine shafts. Attics. Backstage. Dirt floor cellars. Floating in the middle of lake and looking down, particularly a lake that “no one knows how deep it is…”.