(Inspired by my students. Inspired by the writers who don’t even know they are writers, until they write.)
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I live for that line. The combination of words that, when placed together, shake and stir minds. Knowing words are already there, waiting and breathing. Bones breaking and forming until. Until I pluck them from books or mouths and create a combination that unlocks everything.
I live for the moment all my veins and twists make sense to me. The moment my body speaks back in a dialect I can finally understand.
I live for my father, who never closed his door to me, even when I was at my worst.
I live for the book I haven’t read yet.
I live for the books I haven’t written yet.
I live for the moments I have yet to experience. And the art I’ve yet to see. And the border crossings I’ve yet to cross.
I live for my passport, which one day I will fill up.
I live to free the parts of me I have put on hold. To give them time and space to speak up. To give my body and mind a chance to re-introduce itself.
Yeah. I live for that.
I love you because you are possibly the kindest and most caring human I have ever known – I love you because you make me think better of people – I love you because I see in you everything I wish I were or can someday be – I love you because you have not allowed the bad you have experienced make you give up on the rest of us – I love you because your very best days are still to come – …you need all of that loving and more because you so regularly give all you have to others and leave so little for yourself.