i love you
i love you
i love you
This is about the darkness that surrounds us and finding light in the midst of it. I can often find less than concrete things to hold onto when I am sad. Ideas. Concepts. The stuff of four years of liberal arts college. But in the midst of that four years of college-ing I met someone who altered my perception. Who altered my world view. If only she knew.
When I first met Karen I did not like her. Stop, I have already told her this truth. I was young, she was young and we were both hard-headed and convinced that our world view was the "truth." Learning later the true relativity of truth brought us together. Karen and I bumped heads in a Religious Studies class. A moment that escaped her but stuck in my craw for over 20 years, seriously. But Grace is brilliant in Its existence. That moment stuck with me. Why, there were a whole bunch of people I didn't get a long with in college whose names and faces I have long since forgotten. Not Karen. Somewhere in the future we were to meet again and Grace would soften my heart and open my eyes enough to embrace my love of this extraordinary woman.
Facebook - yes, of course. Karen and I somehow got reconnected and found verisimilitude. And along with her she brought a reconnection with other loves from my past and people I had managed to walk past for four years and never really "see." Thank you Grace.
This post is about the darkness. The winter is hard on all of us who live in the northern hemisphere, perhaps even those who live in the southern hemisphere but I don't know any of them personally! We get dark and somber and miss the sun and are not quite sure what to do to keep our spirits up and our outlook positive. Even our food gets heavier. Our bodies somehow crumple up underneath darkness' weight and we hide ourselves beneath coats, hoodies, blankets, bad moods and depression. It helps to keep a light in the window to welcome our true selves back home. Karen is my light this winter. I think of the 20+ years that I was without her wisdom, her smile, her warmth, her lessons, her courage, her. And I am hopeful that I can make it through the next three months. Look at the gift given to me after all that time.
Life brings us all that we need when we need it. And I hold onto this trope with Kare's face on the outside of it this winter.
She has amazed me with her courage. Going home again and finding herself and her love and then going forward and accomplishing the thing she thought at one point she could not. We are stronger than we know. So, here is an exercise for us this winter, loves. Find something you adore or someone who brings you joy, someone who's journey shows you strength and movement through the dark and put their face on your winter. Allow them to lift you up when you can't do it for yourself.
If I may be so bold and selfish I am going to allow Karen to hold me up this winter.
And as I started this post, i love you.
be well tribe.
in peace
keisha
2 comments:
This is a very profound blog, Keisha. I like hearing the backstories I had no idea about when I had my head in the sand back at Lawrence.
Karen is a beautiful person who I wish I would have taken the opportunity to know better back in the day.
I'm also glad that Facebook has brought so many of us back together. I've learned so much about you and other people in random postings than I learned in four years on that campus with them ((which I'm ashamed of myself for, though :( ))
Also without FB I would never have found your blog and seen your writings. You definitely have a talent with words, and I'm sorry I never knew how creative you were back then.
Still, enough regrets! You're a great person, Karen's a great person, I'm aaight, too, so onward into 2011 and let's keep doing what we do. Peace!
-JG
JG, We knew we were all that bavk then. Too bad MTV's The Real World couldn't see it. We would have blown that show up!
No regrets. Only gratitude for this moment, we wouldn't have been able to fully comprehend each other back then anyway!!
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