a few things...
1) my grandmother is here. even though this is the first big family event she is missing, she is here. in the faces of her daughters (and in their interactions with one another, this is a hee, hee moment), in my heart, and in the spirit of the hummingbirds that are everywhere in this gorgeous corner of the world.
2) even though my grandmother did this kind of wacky, sometimes horrible thing of encouraging this odd competition between my and my cousin who is about two months younger than me, we get along great. i adore him. and i can't wait to spend time catching up with him and with his wife this evening. i kind of stick my tongue out at my grandma right now about this one. she had this thing with creating competition when there didn't need to be any. and we outgrew that. thank goodness.
3) seeing my aunt and uncle interact with one another makes my heart happy.
4) my husband is a kind soul and my best friend. this makes me the luckiest person i know.
5) i might want to be a mom. but only if i can have a daughter as cute and smart and funny as my cousin's daughter. (no need to tell me it doesn't work that way...i am just sayin')
6) i wish my brother was here. he is playing a show in portland so he couldn't be here but i miss him. he and my cousin (the one who is getting married) were born on the same day of the same year. how cool is that? my mother and her sister both had a baby on the same day. i know he hates that he isn't here this weekend.
7) the cliff dwellings at mesa verde remind me that a lot of what i spend my time being wrapped up in is pretty insignificant in the scheme of things. i want to come back here (kind of want to come back alone) and spend time in these ruins. when my back is better and i can walk like regular old me again.
8) i am switzerland in a family that thinks they are switzerland too. but i think i might be the only one actually able to hoist that flag with certainty. family is great though. you can learn so much from spending time with the people that make up the tribe from which you came.
9) i love wearing my hair in these two pigtail bun things and i can't wait until it is long enough to wear it in two braids again.
10) the book eat, pray, love might change your life. so read it already won't you? (i am going to write and write and write some more. this book has yelled at me and also whispered to remind me that this is my calling.)
11) I miss my grandmother like crazy. i am just tired enough after getting three hours of sleep wednesday night and a few more than that last night that i kind of want to curl up in a ball and cry. but i won't. i will keep my eyes open for the hummingbirds. have you ever heard them talk? they make this fantastic chirping sound, letting you know that they have some feelings about you being in their air space. yes, i think my grandmother flies with them now.
12) i saw wild horses today. enough said really.
13) i know i missed poetry thursday for the first time since the thursday in february when it all began. just trust me that today in the ruins i was part of the poetry of the earth. that is enough for this week i think.
14) wait until i tell you about how i am doing the mirror meditation while i am here. stay tuned...
liz lamoreux
Reader Comments (17)
Oh this post felt like a big wrap around my body hug. Corny but true. I t made me smile and joyful, even grateful.
I love the hummingbirds, but I have never heard them call.
I have not read the book, but I most definitely will. Can't wait to hear more....
Love to you
beautiful one
It sounds like you're surrounded by love and positive feelings. Absorb the experience and take it home with you.
Safe travels...
Hi BePresent,
This is my first vist to your blog. I found you via Ascender.
First, thank you so so much for the self love meditation several posts back. You voice is so soothing. I'm caught up in a new job and a 2.5-hour commute every day. I have become ragged around the edges. I bookmarked your audiofile for use each day when I finally get home.
This is a beautiful post. My favorite paragraph/insight is about the mesa verde. I, too, dedicate so much of my time and energy each day to things so far from the core of life: work and drive. To touch the sublime is to see all of that dissolve.
wow, sounds like a truly magical and beautiful place. I must add to my travel to do list! glad you are having a great time and I hope you do get to return alone one day...
Liz, there is poetry in so much of this. You are making of your life a poem. A beautiful poem. (my copy of Eat, Pray, Love arrived a few days ago. Hmm. change my life? Hmm. Next week. OK?)
(Julia drops the flexicuffs and jumps up and down in a distant field...)
Liz! Yes I know that chirping sound that hummingbirds make!! Thank you for saying that because no one has ever said that but you! It is such a delicate, yet cute sound...and you know it is loud to them...awww..you heard it...how sweet.
Oh man..I am so happy for you...how COOL. You had fun..are ABSORBING things..NICE. My heart is actually swelling for you Liz. I am so happy for you.
Julia
Amazing. You are an amazing person!
All sounds kind of fun and good. . .
We have a lot of hummingbirds around here and they're often very "talky" - fun to watch and listen to.
Have you noticed when your family is together if there's ever a spot (like a chair for instance) that people gather around but no one sits there? (That can be a sign of a departed spirit visiting a gathering. People instinctively gather around where the spirit is but don't want to occupy the exact same space even if they don't know exactly why.)
how lovely to all be together, sounds like a wonderful reunion liz
Beautiful post - thanks - I love hummingbirds too - never seen 'em but I love 'em!
You are in the part of the country where I have my roots. It is magical, and I can't wait to set foot there again later this week.
We used to go rafting in Durango and on field trips to Mesa Verde with my high school.
I love the idea that your grandmother is present for the gathering of your family.
Enjoy it all, my friend!
I convinced my bookclub to read Eat Pray Love for November and I can't wait!
My sister and my cousin are born on the same day/same year as well....wouldn't it be freaky if it was the same day as yours? (June 1st).
I'm SO looking forward to meeting you in person on Friday and I've got this idea......hehehehe.
Eat Pray Love was wonderful. I didn't write much about it, but I think I will re-read soon and post more about my thoughts. !!
you silly girl, when your children are your own, they are always the sweetest and the cutest and the funniest and the smartest and the...
you are very blessed.
I love family reunions, even if it is for a funeral it is wonderful to have everyone together - even better for a wedding. Sadly there are no hummingbirds in New Zealand. Maybe I will travel and see one, one day.
i'm reading eat, pray, love right now for the 2nd time around- i put the kids to bed extra early tonight so i could sneak into bed and read some more.
certainly changing my life, fo sho.