The Surprise Inside Separation
I need to start every post I write like this: Hello! Hi! It’s so good to see you!
Because truly, the only reason I write is for connection.
It’s me reaching out my spindly arms to hug you, give you a high five, a nod, a wave, or a smile.
I’m not here to sell you my tips and tricks, or to manipulate you into yet another thing you need to purchase to become a better human. It’s just me, here, from my little desk surrounded by romance novels, craft books, my collage board of inspiring images, and a windowsill littered with a jar of shells, tiny vials of red and yellow glitter, my special creativity potion from my friend Elli, and a miniature Eiffel Tower.
Isn’t this the reason, though, we do anything in life?
We want to belong.
We don’t want to merely feel like we’re a part of a greater whole; we want to actually know and experience this connection, for it to be as real as the cereal bowls in the sink, the sweat trickling down our backs after a hard effort, or the steam rising from our morning cup of tea.
Words are maps leading us to each other, pointing me back to myself, and planting me in the living world.
Connection is the thread in my needle as I weave simple personal revelations into textured universal poems.
Connection is the spell I cast as I concoct enchanted scripts out of the ingredients of an ordinary day.
The world appears broken, our bodies show their wear, our lives scatter like shards—and yet we continue to surrender to the compulsion to live and create
As some of you may know, I’m currently separated from my partner and most likely on my way to an official divorce. But to my surprise, I’m sensing, noticing, and relying upon my roots. There’s a complex, deep, and integrated system, stretching through my soul, spilling out across the street, and spanning the whole world.
My marriage, and all the cultural and religious beliefs and roles bound up within it, made me blind to this hidden strength I have access to beneath the surface.
Divorce, whether from a partner or an identity or a habit we’ve long clung to, can often look like a severing of our life force, of love, but it doesn’t have to be.
The times in our lives when we intentionally or unintentionally break away from what was once considered normal, good, or right for us are the exact places we discover that an entire, veiny ecosystem of care, support, and encouragement has been sustaining us all along.
