Daily Sparks Writing | Friendship & Hiding
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Taking inspiration from Mona Chalabi and David Whyte |
I am sitting in the old workshed. It is the last day of August, golden and dappled. The sunlight is casting a shifting mesh across my desk. It has taken a while to settle and focus today. A squirrel clatters across the roof. The dappled criss-cross of light and shade dances on the back of my hands. I think of the way glass stays liquid, sinking at glacial pace. The beauty in the warping of old glass. The golden mesh of light on the surface of the lido. A cloud passes and for a moment everything is ordinary grey again.
. . .
Am I Normal? How Many Friends Do I Need? \ Mona Chalabi | BBCSounds/Ted
People who are dear to me.
People I love.
People I can see after decades and it feels like only yesterday.
People who are sharing what I’m going through now.
People who shared what I went through then.
Friendly faces who delight me.
People I learn from, who help me.
People I care about.
People I respect.
People it’s important to connect with.
People who inspire me.
People I just click with.
People who make me laugh and forget myself.
People who help me see things another way.
People who just seem to like me, to get me, just the way I am.
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And I recalled this, which I wrote the other day [16 July 2022]
:
Are they kind?
Do they make you laugh?
Do they make you feel amazing?
Do they believe in you?
And help you believe in yourself?
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And this, from the speech I gave at my sister’s wedding [21 June 2022], sparked by Lemn Sissay’s wonderful poem Invisible Kisses, which was the reading at their ceremony https://blog.lemnsissay.com/2013/02/12/invisible-kisses/
:
Love begins in the spark when you catch the eye
of a beautiful stranger in a little cobbled alleyway beside the sea.
But it takes hard work to turn that spark into something more,
something that keeps you warm for the rest of your life.
It’s in permission to be entirely yourself.
It’s in the small things, the boring things, the everyday living of life.
It’s what keeps you coming back
Those times you want to run away.
What inspires you to stay
When it might be easier to leave.
It’s knowing without being told.
But also, being able to say the difficult things and be heard.
Being together through the darkest times
and still being able to face one another in the light.
. . .
Hiding
A wild walk to the cliff-tops
A blanket
A duvet, pulled over the head
Noise cancelling headphones
Long hair kept loose
A cobwebbed corner in an old shed
Video off
Straight to voicemail
Mute
The radio off when the news comes on
Eyes closed
Breath held
Jaw clenched
Shoulders curved
Curled inward
A self-made cave
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