Long ago, a spontaneous art project emerged from my own healing journey. I began to paint pictures of bald women. People asked me why, and I told them it was because bald women are strong, fierce, raw, alive.
This week has been big and difficult for Cynthia at The Sandwich Life. Cynthia wrote a piece earlier this week about bareness, and she also has posted pictures this week of Judi near the end of her life -- bald, glowing, open.
I think...This life here on earth is magnificent and treacherous. How do we cope with the intense loving we do? Our hearts break over and over again just like the waves crashed against my feet yesterday. There is no let-up. Gloriously brave or stubbornly stiff with fear, we just keep loving. We keep trying to cope with whatever each day brings us.
Cynthia struggled over whether she was live-blogging her sister's illness and death. I'm so sorry she felt any worry about that.
Learning about Judi, coming to know Cynthia over the last year or more, watching her family meet life with humor and love... it's been a gift for me. Because my parents can't face the truth or don't want to me present with my father as his life ends... I get to see a little of what it might be like if there were some bareness in my family.
I think it's a devotion, a service, or a practice to share honestly about real life. I get no vicarious thrill or drama from reading Cynthia at The Sandwich Life. I receive connection and feel some hope for my own life.
Sometimes I'm so grateful for the human connections that come from sharing here.
thanks for this Cathy....
Posted by: cynthia | February 13, 2009 at 06:14 AM