"THAT'S LIFE"

I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate,

A poet, a pawn and a king.

I've been up and down and over and out
And I know one thing:

Each time I find myself, flat on my face,

I pick myself up and get back in the race.

That's life

I tell ya, I can't deny it

I thought of quitting baby,

By my heart just ain't gonna buy it.

And if I didn't think it was worth one single try,

I'd jump right on a big bird and then I'd fly.

-Old Blue Eyes..."That's Life"

Ever since I started to go to Romemu (http://www.romemu.org/) a few years ago, I often find myself walking down streets singing....actually, in most cases, it's chanting more than singing...the amazing melodies that get reignited each Friday night, that plug into my soul, that connect me with parts of me that I am still exploring. The other day, though, there I was channeling Frank with the chorus of "That's Life", the words following me home until I looked up the lyrics, I needed to see them. Read them...all of them. And, while that chorus is what is embedded in me from the car radio as a kid, I could have pasted any snippet here, because ALL of that song so rings true. Because in addition to being about a personal truth, it's beyond that and even the general human condition. Frank, and anyone else crooning these words, is singing about faith, plain and simple. A faith that is, as I look out at the state of my fellow (wo)man, more essential, and more craved, and also often more challenged, by more people than I can ever remember, certainly even more than when I posted my last entry here, on the heels of Obama's election 14 months ago. And hearing him last night in the State of the Union address, I did feel somewhat re-connected to his humanity, his vulnerability, his attempt at honesty in the midst of a political paradigm that is so adverse to real transformation. So, I am re-inspired to write. Not just in my black books as I do every day, but here. For whatever reasons, both internal and externally driven, they may be. It's been too long.

My friend, Marilyn Horowitz (http://www.marilynhorowitz.com/), posed on her blog, and on Facebook, the question to writers about why they write, and so many of the people who responded answered, in some form or another, because they have to. And, I feel the same way. It took me a lifetime to finally call myself a "writer", as opposed to someone who writes. As if I was waiting to have someone grant me a degree, or provide some validation. So, regardless of whatever talent I may have, or whether I get paid for it, writing is now way beyond what I do, it's who I am. From the deepest parts in me, from my most open, and most questioning and most hopeful places inside. And as friends and colleagues have consistently nudged and encouraged me to do so, and while I knew that I had things to share, that others seemingly wanted to know and hear about, and while my book proposal laid there for too long, vibrating every day and waiting for the rewrite, I hadn't really thought about my "why". What really moves me to do it, to expose those parts of me, as I do. And, I guess it is, at its core, about making sense of life, not just mine, but my connection with others, with the universe, my relationship with that "OneNess" that connects us all. And in fighting what occasionally feels to me must be (although may not be) a somewhat narcissistic motivation that sparks that need to write, I really do know that the greater part is to inspire, to open others, to all of what burns, or at least flickers, inside them. Us. That by me looking at the synchronicities and serendipities and daily circumstances that show up every day, and/or whether I am looking at parenting or childing, or love or work, creativity or loss, sadness or passion, sex or sensibility, or regardless of whether I can only see my own smallness, or have the opportunity to be moved by someone else's bigness, I know that by shining a light in the often darker corners, I am holding a mirror up to me, and hopefully for others. To support, and inspire, each other, to plug into the best parts of what we have to offer, to ourselves and those with whom we engage. India.Arie reminds me that "Strength, Courage and Wisdom", are certainly some of my elemental needs and aspirations, and I know that I need constant reminders and nurturing to stay faithful.

So, I hope that you will engage with me, and pass this on to anyone who you think may want a dose of whatever I am, and will be, doing here. The more we connect the dots, the more available we become to ourselves, and each other.

Peace, JP