About The Girl

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California, United States
Not-so-silent observations that splinter my conversations. Harnessing the steady flow of random thoughts and musings that continuously interrupt my daily conversations. Paired here with my artwork and photographs from recent adventures. Non sequitur (pronounced \ˈnän-ˈse-kwə-tər\)- a response which, due to its apparent lack of meaning relative to its context, seems absurd to the point of being humorous or confusing.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

HOPE FLOATS

"For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.'"
John Greenleaf Whittier

Sadder still "it may still be" when hope should have been drowned long ago...

There is something magical about the buoyant quality of salty ocean water.

Buoyancy is an upward force equal to the weight of water displaced by an object. Objects in salt water appear more buoyant than objects in fresh water because salt water is denser than fresh water. SALT.

The freedom of simply floating on one's back. Cradles by the warm, salty water and gently rocked by the waves.

In that moment I held in my heart a sense of buoyant hope. Hope floats, you see.

Today there are moments when I wish I could drown my hope. It stubbornly rises to the surface. Persistent as my breath.

Hope floats. Apparently cheerfully buoyant. Resistant to the nagging reality of the situation or the heavy weight of the factual evidence and experience at hand.

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it."
Helen Keller

Is it possible to suffer from persistent, illegitimate hope?

There is an African proverb that goes something like: however long the night, the dawn will break. This is the thinking that rationalizes my floating hope.

How long does one wait for the sun to reappear? How many months? If only my hope had a sense of ordinary time. Hope is epically patient.

"We enjoy warmth because we have been cold. We appreciate light because we have been in darkness. By the same token, we can experience joy because we have known sadness."
David Weatherford

And when the joy arrives, as the eagerly anticipated rains after a long drought, the contrast allows for a deeper sense of appreciation for what was, what is and what might still be...HOPE.

What do you hope for?
Is there anything that might have been still lingering in your heart?