33

"Gratitude abounds for my dear friends. For my lover, teachers, chosen family, and parents for making a beloved out of me. And gratitude abounds for this life and the honor of loving you all in return."

MY BLOG PART V

I find I write my best when I'm sad; reminiscent of Hemingway's famous words, "write hard and clear about what hurts." That, I most certainly do.

The fog clouding my life this past year has lifted and I find myself free of the heavy sorrow that typically compels me to reach for the proverbial pen and paper. And this, I realize, is a gift.

On my birthday today I write from a place of levity. Or, dare I say, joy. More than ever before, I feel the blossoming growth of my own power.

For a long time I've looked back, bleary eyed, at 2021. I was saddled with the most profound pain I've ever borne. I witnessed the death of my Father, and weathered the other side. To suffer such loss, one cannot help but learn; to be transformed by tragedy; to evolve from the experience.

And though life is hard I do not feel let down by it, nor do I believe I ever will be.

Why?

Because I am a lover. And I am beloved. This alone has lifted my face from the dirt, gently instructing me to, "turn your face stubbornly to the light, and keep it there".

Gratitude abounds for my dear friends. For my lover, teachers, chosen family, and parents for making a beloved out of me. And gratitude abounds for this life and the honor of loving you all in return.

Thank you for pulling my face from the mud, beckoning me to ‘rise’ over the course of 33 years -- many of them peaceful, some of them pole shifting, a few of them, agonizing. I come here today acutely aware that I feel happy, seen, and that this is what Maya Angelou calls the "nobleness of the human spirit."

On this day, I don’t feel any particular motivation to write hard and clear about what hurts. Just simply that, I love you, life. I trust you. I am here for the ride and if there’s one thing I take away from this feeling, it is that levity is as good a muse as sorrow.

Here's to 33.

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"Everyone in the world, one way or another has gone to bed with fear or pain or loss or disappointment. And yet each of us has awakened, arisen, somehow made our ablution. Wherever that abides in the human being, there is the nobleness of the human spirit. Despite it all..."

Dr. Maya Angelou

Dr. Maya Angelou "And Still I Rise" Full Video