Centuries ago, prepared writing surfaces were expensive and laborious to produce. Because of this, it was not uncommon for parchment to be scraped down and repurposed. One document scrubbed, another written in its place.

The process wasn’t perfect. Sometimes, traces of the original text remained faintly visible. Scholars call these documents palimpsests (from ancient Greek meaning “to scrape again”).

Our creative work — even our lives — can be a kind of palimpsest. Changing. Regenerating. Layering.

And the old layers don’t lessen the value of the new text. They’re just part of recorded history. Even more, those layers add to an intrigue and beauty that we can embrace.