This morning a friend of mine that I haven’t seen or heard from in quite awhile, emailed a note to me. I’m guessing that my Christmas card inspired her. Yes! Rituals from the days of life with home are still alive and well in my heart, and s-o-m-e-t-i-m-e-s I manage to pull them off in actual fact. This year? Christmas cards bought and sent and Christmas cookies baked in a house-sit kitchen and decorated at my daughter’s home to Menotti’s ‘Amahl and the Night Visitors’ and Benjamin Britten’s ‘Ceremony of Carols’. Heaven.
Back to the email. The email read:
What adventures have you been up to? I feel you in my life, it’s so powerful!
I’m delighted to hear from my friends and that they feel so strongly positive about my being. And there’s a ‘but’ in my heart for the human condition. We do not seem to be able to look someone else’s discomfort in the eye and hold that gaze. We either look quickly and run. Or we look and decide to hang out but pretend that all is well, so let’s talk about fun things. Fun is lovely, fun is perfect, but not at the expense of truth and caring. Truth and caring. Genuine conversation. “How are you?”.