Collage as Metaphor

One of my assignments for art class this week was to make a collage.  After tearing out a dozen pages from discarded magazines I found myself searching for a place to begin.  Should I start with a concept or a picture?  Starting with the former resulted in an endless search for the right image to complement the idea.  Sometimes I'd get frustrated and give up.  Other times I'd get distracted by a glossy landscape and go off on a new, seemingly inspired tangent.  Every once in a while I'd happen upon the perfect fit.  A picture that was too good to be true.  Luck?  Perseverance?  Perspective?  Not sure, and in truth it didn't matter.  In collage, as in life, synchronicity can happen.  Life and collage have something else in common -- patterns.  A repetitive quality existed among my tear sheets.  I noticed an assortment of women walking towards something,  an abundance of paths, streets and driveways, and a plethora of gardens in various stages of bloom.  My intrinsic filter helped me make my choices.  Perhaps this is the reason I like introducing my friends to each other.  They have similar, overlapping traits.  Thus, the odds are good they will get along and complement one another.