How she became a woman…
I was recently taught how to make a cup out of clay. I tried. It didn’t work. Actually nothing about the cup worked. It was the second time I tried making a cup out of clay. The first time it ended up as a ball and I gifted it back to the earth knowing that the rains would eventually soften it so much that it would end up soft and muddy.
So, I tried again at Easter. The cup kept cracking. The clay kept drying out. The clay felt stiff and unworkable. What I thought was a simple process was actually was not so simple. And yet I really wanted it to be.
My cup just didn’t work.
The clay just didn’t mould.
And then I heard G say,
“just let your hands do it,
they know how to do it.”
And then the clay softened.
And then the clay felt moist.
And then my breath became softer.
And then my eyes became gentler.
My hands knew what to do.
They worked by themselves.
My mind went blank.
My heart slowed down.
My hands knew the shape
My hands knew the steps
My hands found a rhythm
My heart found the peace.
You see, she didn’t want to be a cup.
She didn’t want to be shaped that way.
She didn’t want to be limited.
She didn’t want to conform.
She didn’t want to be bound.
She didn’t want to be confined.
She didn’t want to be normal.
Yes, she wanted to be smooth
and she wanted to be solid
She wanted to be grounded
and she wanted to be real
She wanted to show she was empty
and in the emptiness she was full.
She wanted to show she was smooth
And in the smoothness she was cracked.
She wanted to show she felt free
and in the expanse she was present.
She wanted to show she was real
and the realness she was flawed.
She wanted to show she was ageless
and in her aging she is ageless;
She wanted to show she has light
and in her light there are shadows.
She is the empty.
She is the full.
She is the smooth.
She is the cracked.
She is the flawed.
She is the free.
She is the expanse.
She is the grounded.
She is the light.
She is the shadows.
She is the stalwart.
She is the present.
She is the future.
She is the past.
She is life.
She tried to be a cup
and instead,
she became a real woman.
In honour of your journey,