BUSINESS PARKS

Business Parks are lonely places where work is forced out during the week. They are away from the city, a world unto themselves leaving little room for the mind to wander anyplace but the business of profit.

On weekends they take on an eerie quiet. An enigmatic blend of aloneness and peace. The empty company event tent, the left over tools of business and the wandering person reflecting on all of it.

Door to Golden Rule Room

THE LONG TAIL OF PURPOSE

The need for purpose can haunt you and follow you into retirement. Even after a great career, raising you kids, having grandchildren and many accomplishments, there still can be a need to have some type of purpose in retirement.

Much is written about this subject and how to find missing purpose. Hobbies, family and volunteering help for a time. However, it never seems quite enough. We lived such an A to B life before retirement.

How do we find that purpose again, or should we at all? Most articles will urge you to strive for it. However, there is another way. It is to look beyond the need for the type of purpose we knew in the past. 

At some point, you start to realize that the driving need for purpose limits your enjoyment of the wonderful gift of free time that retirement gives us. A time when you can explore the full range of senses of what it means to enjoy life and be alive. The fresh fall breeze, the sounds of the city and nature, the taste and smell of a well prepared meal, the warmth of friends and family. When you put traditional purpose in the rear view mirror, you find yourself more in tune with the world.

All these things have little to do with purpose as we knew it. They will, though, make you a better person. One who moves through life more gently. You become a more positive force in the world. You may also find that you will recognize small and simple things you can do to help others along the way. I am not sure there is any greater purpose than that.

David Young

www.studiofour.com

ORDINARY THINGS

Ordinary Things

They are all around us, becoming the tapestry and canvas for our lives. Light plays with them, forming an origami of moods for us. We overlook and ignore them, but they wait patiently for our return home each day…

David Young

Studio Four Magazine www.studiofour.com

ORDINARY THINGS from David Young on Vimeo.

CORNERS

“Your Days will go the way of Corners” …. Winston Churchill

There are corners in all our lives. Some just a place to pause and reflect, some full of drama, some that lead to bad ways or new starts. 

Some are well worn taken many times. Still we never know exactly what is around each corner, but still make the turn. Carrying with us the slight fear of the unknown and the imagined hope of something or someone new. 

David Young

studiofour.com

EZELL HARDWARE

Ezell Hardware in Chester SC is not just a hardware store, it is a work of art. Operating continuously since 1886, Ezell’s importance to this small town can not be overstated.

Chester is a picturesque place. It is known as The Town on the Hill. The colors of the buildings and winding streets please your eye and camera. Despite growing industry around the town, Chester suffers from many empty storefronts. Hope abounds through local businesses, civic leaders and a growing community of artists. The town will come back. Part of that comeback in anchored by Ezell Hardware. 

Its not often that you equate art with hardware. Ezell is not intended to be that way, but the building, rows of parts, the hard to find items, the bible book of fittings and the courtesy of Elizabeth the owner draw you in.

Here you will find artful doors, a thousand hardware items you never knew existed, a sense of wandering calm of yesterday and even a great cast iron pan. All this is wrapped in a wonderful smell trapped in the hardwood over time.

And if you grow tired of wandering Ezell. You can walk across the street to Gene’s Restaurant. A true southern restaurant serving simple honest food, often straight from the farm. Like Ezell, there is nothing fancy here.  You will, however, be surrounded by interesting locals, overheard stories and 4.5 star rated food. A spot not to be missed, especially for breakfast.

Small towns don’t need much to flourish once again. Just a few places like Ezell Hardware to fill your appetite for the unique new discovery.

I wish you great wandering…

David Young

Studio Four Magazine www.studiofour.com

WALLS OF THE SOUTH

The South flourishes with small towns. The walls you find there have many stories, some told and others held close in mystery. They speak of the red of war both revolutionary and civil, of burning and rebirth. Walls may stand beside simple pathways. Some stand alone missing the building next to them, remembered only in marks on the wall. Many speak of happenings large and small. You can walk by them and not notice, or savor the textures and colors that they add to life in these small places.

David Young

Studio Four Magazine www.studiofour.com