Traces
January 15, 2006
"What can I compare you to? A favorite pair of shoes. Maybe my bright red boots, if they had wings." -From "Take It From Me", The Weepies
I have hit the play button three times on the same CD as I clean my house. Memories of the previous 72 hours are hovering in the air, clinging to me like soft, twinkling cobwebs as I walk around gathering laundry, putting dishes away and lighting candles, returning my home to its normal, orderly state. As I wipe away so many traces of a giddy weekend filled with moments that will carry me through the rest of my days, I am soaking in the sweetness. I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry, to dance or to sleep. For now I don’t need to know. For now I can just bask in the delight I experienced sharing this weekend with eight astounding, brave, nurturing women. A weekend that was about connection and integration, about uncertainty and stillness. A weekend that was a small moment in time in one tiny part of the universe, but that will always remain something far greater in each of our hearts and minds. Something big. Something kickass. Something raucous and daring and untamed, with just a touch of something soft and delicate and minky.
Something wondrous.
Evidence of these eight women are everywhere – in sticky floors, an empty baby bottle, and a note with a bird drawn on it left among crumpled sheets. A toothbrush. A pile of towels. A card in a pink envelope. They were all just here, dancing in my living room, eating apples, and asking each other questions. They were all just here, and will always be here. I will clean this house and live in it all week. I will someday sell it, pack it up and leave it forever, but they will always be here. These moments will always exist, no matter how much longer we each have left on this earth or whether or not we ever see each other again. Will the future owners of this house ever understand this? Will they walk through the hall and step into the kitchen and feel something they can’t quite explain, except to say that they suddenly feel like howling at the moon? Will they hear the whispers of a thousand tiny dreams, each one born as we played, cried, created and laughed?
Of course I will never know for sure, but I do know this: that no matter what life may throw at me from this moment forward, I will always have this. This will always be here. This will always be.
*sigh*
Pure magic—
oh yeah baby. aaahhhhooooooooo!!!!!!!!
Does sound magical indeed! And how could it not be, with so many vibrant souls and so much creative energy coming together? Sounds absolutely fantastic.
Sounds like a marvelous group of friends. I’m sometimes jealous of the kinds of friendships women have with each other. Ok, frequently.
beautiful. real. love.
so glad to hear your time together was full of all of this.
It’s all so wonderful that I’m sitting here with tears in my eyes. I loved all the photos of you sweet, amazing WOMEN – I’m so glad you did this! Can’t wait to witness what was birthed from the gift you gave yourselves -
incredibly delicious.
thank you so much for sharing this story.
i love the idea of tribes gathering and inspiring each other.
blessings,
leonie
beautiful. thank you for sharing!
This is wonderful to see photos of everyone and be able to put faces to some of the names whose blogs we know so well. What a great idea to bring all of you together, you are kind of the iconic G-8 group of the online art’s world!
And I think we all took traces of the magic home with us too. I feel transformed. Thank you.
Wow! I only hope to have a creative group like that one day with like-minded souls. It sounded like you had quite a time. Cheers!
i need some afternoon delight!
afternoon delight.lionel.minky.photoshoots. savior with a broken hand. love and miss you all…… paprika lupita papita
Looks like you girls had a wonderful weekend
what a wonderful, magicaly weekend. and yes it sounds like something that will stay with you and in those walls forever. how can that much love and laughter not aborb into the framework of the walls that held it.
ps–i just got my weepies cd in the mail this weekend and i’m listening to it right now!