march ∞

Human nature is magnificent, inspiring, sometimes scary and most of the time very inspiring. For the past year I have been watching with aw and observing stories unfolding for and to people with brave hearts. I thought a lot lately also about how much your core beliefs shape your perception of the world. And how much that world shapes our perceptions. How much perspective can also affect perception.

Today I got a gift. Unexpectedly and so beautifuly delivered. Her name is Lidia and shes refugee from Ukraine celebrating her 80th birthday today. Today is also International Womens Day. Which awakens different perceptions and reflections in different people. But yes, my gift was a poem. Delivered by Lidia. Read from a handwriten paper featuring also some doodles of a child. She red it with passion and and beautiful voice and sparkle in her eyes. It was magical. The context of a shelter that’s on a docked boat where those sparkles in her eyes also reflected the sparkles from the water just outside the window.

Gifts can also be responsibilities. Gifts can also be giving. Today her gift gave me thoughts on acts of service and things we do for others to grow and sparkle and thrive. And thats why I wanted to take responsibility to share this. To explore that there is never the flat expected if you look close enough, if you allow yourself to be vulnerable, to connect, to embrace.

And later on when I was listening to a young girl telling about plants and seedlings and growth and amazing universe of garderning I also thought how lucky I am spend this day surrounded by poetry, seedlings, different words for salad in Dutch, Russian, Ukrainian and English. Surrounded the sisterhood and humanhood. Surround by time we can all share and plant the seeds for tomorrows new poetry.

The last line of the poem was “Я есть! Я - чудо! Я жива!” - “I am! I am a miracle! I am alive!” and in Lidias notes it also said “read every day”.