A shadow is the closest thing a person has. Take a long look and leave no remorse. See that your shadow dies well. It is for your own sake.
“
| — | Murakami |
tingly
i’d like to button up your collar
and meet you at the door
and rest my chin upon your shoulder
as we slow dance on the floor
as we sit still on the park bench
and take in what we see
even as i blink you”ll notice
you grasp the spark in me
Pain au Chocolat at Paul
Strasbourg, France
While we were looking for a place to eat this morning, my office mate was telling me about the McDonald’s tradition. Apparently, your first meal in a foreign country, you take there.
Not this time! I got a pain au chocolat at this bakery Paul for a euro. It was really as yummy as I expected. Soft, warm and flaky with just the right amount of melt in your mouth chocolate.
So hello, France.
I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
-Tummy
xor
i am safety
you are danger
back and forth we
breed a stranger
intensely black
you graze my white
opposing teams
but share the fight
when i’m open
you’re my cover
we fill these voids
for the other
So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be.
“
| — | The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky |
discovery
We have these things other people don’t know about.
Words forming speculations, opinions, statements.. Things we feel, have felt, want to feel. We keep them so close to ourselves that they seem hidden from everyone else, almost taking the form of secrets, only they’re not. We feel protective over them because they’re so personal. And like all things produced by really intimate workings of the mind and heart, we tend to keep them private.
Maybe we’re scared to find out what people would think, that they’d disagree, or find us weird. Heck, even just that they might look at us differently. Maybe we’re simply scared to let them see those parts of us that aren’t usually on display. Our comfort zone doesn’t just pertain to that malleable sphere of people outside ourselves. The one that is actually a lot more difficult to expand is that which resides within.
It’s ironic then that these things we so carefully conceal are those that, when shared, make the most difference in building our relationships. The foot in the door to all the rest of a person.. Come to think of it, that being so is probably the reason we should be that much careful about it. The trouble with this though, is that you don’t really have total control about what other people see, or read, or perceive. You can project all you want, but some people will just get you.
Discovery. It’s that process, and at the same time that end product, that works as the active ingredient behind all our best, deepest, most meaningful interpersonal relationships. It’s when people are able to read between our lines, through our covers, and crack the mystery we may have unintentionally shrouded ourselves in.
For a bunch of us, fear might be a common initial reaction once discovered. But oftentimes the fear is overcome by joy, and a lot of peace. Because really, how awesome is it to have someone actually and truly understand your story without you even having to write that novel?
