October 11, 2022

advice at the watercooler **

Spend an afternoon at the arboretum in Chaska, Minnesota and forget to photograph 
the trees. Take a little walk on a narrow board through an autumn marsh. Then, 
in the glow of a sassy haircut, flirt with a man at a gas station, or a woman at a stoplight. 
Later, scramble down to a wild, lonesome beach. Strip down to what the gods gave you 
and jump in. Stay a moment. Just be. Let the salt spray of memories sear your skin. 
Let your grief and gravity collide. Love your body for being a body, then live in a way 
that lets the people and places you love deeply love you back. Hold your story with care,
even when you are frantic and ambivalent and have so much to say that it’s hard to know what to say at all. Meet at the Armistice Bridge and bring gloves and plant thousands 
of daffodils. Then see what’s brewing on the studio table and start stitching.

** These lines, slightly altered, appeared in a variety of Facebook updates I found today.
With deep thanks to Bo Mackison, Jean Reinhold, Nina Elder, Kolleen Harrison, Kat Ogaz, Stasia Savasuk, Muse Sawyer, Jo Carol Lewald, Tara Reese, Ruby Silvious, and Robin Scanlon