Metaphors to life are so abundant they verge on cliche. From the classic box of chocolates to the bowl of cherries to the highway lined with roses, it seems that life is either very versatile or very hard to contain in a single comparison. I believe it is both.

Regardless, I have a metaphor I’m quite fond of: Life is like a ladder. There are many sights, many stops, and lots of chances to fall, and each time you climb up a rung, your view becomes higher and higher…

But these days everything’s so… automated. It’s not so much a ladder as it is… an… escalator.

The metaphor stands, of course. Every once in a while I have to get off and get on a new escalator to take me to new, untold heights, and the further I go, the more of what lies below me I can see clearly. Well, the last time I had to switch paths and I got on my current escalator, I happened upon a small backpack. Curious, as ever, I knelt and opened the bag, and smiled at the wonders contained therein - a notepad, a drawing pad, and a large array of pencils being the first things to catch my eye.

And this is the result of my experimentation. I’ve decided to record what I see from my lofty (and ever-changing) perch in that notebook, and draw things that come to mind with those coloring tools. In boredom, I thought I’d write stories - long or short, made of life or made of mind. Or maybe made of nothing at all.

Not long into my newest ascent I beheld a band playing wonderful music, writing and playing about the weather we all know of. The name of their song was Jacob’s Ladder. I grinned as I turned away from them for a moment, recording the new name for this ride I was taking:

Jacob’s Escalator.