The past few days, I have been reminded of the age old childhood activity of connect the dots. Once all dots are connected you see the end result. At times, it makes you smile and others it leaves you wanting and feeling a bit ripped off. In life though, how do you connect the dots, when you can’t see the next dot? As a kid, I never gave connect the dots a second thought. Never considered the next move as I eagerly made connections from dot to dot safe in the knowledge that eight would always follow seven. I couldn’t go wrong when each step was so clearly numbered for me. But now…the steps aren’t always clear. If you start connecting dots in the wrong direction, you alter the end result. Each dot seems a crucial part of the big picture.

The first reminder of this childhood game came while I was homeschooling my 1st grader. He had to connect the dots, each dot representing the answer to a math equation. Before he even started, he tried to guess what it was, sure it was Frankenstein. After much problem solving, he connected his dots only to reveal a guitar instead. The two little screws on the guitar led him to believe it would be Frankenstein. I’m sure the fact that we just celebrated Halloween had something to do with his vision as well. I thought he might be disappointed that connecting the dots didn’t reveal what he initially thought it would, but quite the opposite happened. He was thrilled with a drawing, albeit a pointy one, of a guitar. Just goes to show, life has a way of surprising us even when we think we know what’s coming. Sometimes, even if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it ends up being something else.

Other times it is a duck! I came across To Be Aware‘s Duck series discussing how the human mind works. His eye candy for this post is a duck. Well, of course it’s a duck, but it’s a connect the dots duck! I have to admit, I found his post deep…really deep. And, I’m not sure I totally get it, probably because I’m not good at math. Whenever I don’t get something, I always blame it on math. It’s like when my kids can’t find something and I blame the housekeeper, but that’s a whole other post. Stay tuned for Housekeepers Across the Globe Unite! Where was I? Right, Duck Series is definitely worth a read so head on over there. Heck, I read it twice, and am now following his blog because I’m that intrigued. Let me know if your human mind works differently than mine. A sure sign will be if you totally get it the first time you read it.

If you didn’t get it the first time, no worries because a re-visit can be beneficial. Take Roy Lichtenstein for example. October 27 was Roy Lichtenstein’s birthday. He would have been eighty-nine years old if alive. Lichtenstein was famous for his Pop Art in the 1960’s. “Primary colors–red, yellow and blue, heavily outlined in black–became his favorites. Occasionally he used green. Instead of shades of color, he used the benday dot, a method by which an image is created, and its density of tone modulated in printing.” His art looked like a comic book scene with it’s characters coming to life through the word bubbles he often gave them. For the first time, since his death in 1997, his art is on display at the National Gallery of Art. It has been in Chicago and will travel to London and Paris next year. It seems young people are just as drawn to his work today, showing dots can be revisited and yield similar results each time.

Last night’s election results left a country divided. There are those who believe they have connected the dots for America’s future, and are already celebrating the big picture even though it remains to be seen.  There are others who don’t believe the big picture will be a positive one no matter how creatively the dots are connected…simply because they don’t believe in the artists, the dots, or the big picture that’s been promised. The truth is, none of us knows what that big picture will truly look like. We can hope for a guitar and end up with a Frankenstein or vice versa.

Wouldn’t it be nice if it was Frankenstein jamming on the guitar?