Today,
I was drawn to Valentine's photographs of two years ago. I sent out an
Evite to my couple friends to
celebrate Valentine' Day called 'Bowl-for-Love.'
In hopes of being unpredictable, I surmised that a few couple friends celebrating relationship and love by going bowling
would do the trick. About six couples met at 300 Dallas and enjoyed in
food, fun, laughter and celebration of love. Stealing from Forest Gump,
life really is like a box of chocolates. You truly never know what you're
going to get, moment-by-moment. Wisdom, the great teacher, is
reminding me of the EVER importance
of family and authentic friendship. If I were being honest, I would have to
admit that I haven't lived an authentic life. I have sporadically tried
to conform to whom society, friends and family wanted me to be. Though it may have
made them more tolerant of me, it dulled my shine; thereby, threatening to
steal away my little slice of sunshine.
I
was recently reminded of Maya Angelo's poem, Still I Rise. I,
like many of you, have recited this gem over the years. What a
beautifully written poem about continuously rising victoriously in spite of
life's burdens, and the spoken and unspoken venom from villainous observers?
Because of spirituality, family, and friends, I, too, have continuously
risen from dark places. It is my hope to continue on life's journey clinging
to the mystery of all things that make me whole and rise victoriously.
Still I Rise
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Photographs from Bowl-for-Love:
http://www.threehundred.com/dallas.html
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