Love Tumblr

Recently, I received a message from a person with whom I was once more intimate than I am now. The less intimate way of being is new though. In the space of that newness, while asking myself, "what now?" I found that the past has a way of creeping up on the present.

The two of us had a way of engaging each other through our Love Tumblr blogs. Tumblr is a blog format which engages images moreso than text. One of the hallmarks of our relationship was how we communicated with each other through these journals.

My belief is that love is something we feel and say far too little. Love is something we put chains on: it has to mean this, look this way, be with this person. For Westerners in general, love cannot just "be." Culturally, 'love' is far too frightening; so frightening, in fact, that collectively, we often cannot even recognize the feeling in our bodies and spirits.

As events continued to unfold, I found myself as greeter at an ecstatic dance class. I grooved to the music as people filed in. And with my dance and a smile, I said hello, asked them to sign in, and collected the donations. Thus, I found myself in the midst of an opportunity:

A chance to love every single person that walked through the door.

Whether it was my best girlfriends (with whom love is a given) or the three men, unrelated and unknown to each other, who were returning individually to the dance after a yearlong hiatus; or the crew that showed up early to set up and create the space.

Perhaps love was best expressed toward the older gentleman who has a degenerative hip disease and walks with a cane. Even with these disabilities he comes to dance every week. He enters slowly and painfully and sits down to watch. As he can, he gets up and dances a bit. And while his dance is full of careful movement and probably a bit of pain, he is dancing and he is loving it and us.

As I greeted them all with hugs, kisses, and "I'm glad you're here," I watched others take their dance to the people that entered and do the same. And in dancing with all - even the man with the hip pain - each and every person was engaged in the act of loving.