
What Lights You Up?
on
Living. Loving. Growing. — With a great soundtrack.
9 years ago, today, I moved to St. John. This is the first anniversary that I have not been on island to celebrate that life changing moment. I found my home that day – that place that you don’t even realize your soul has been yearning for until you find it and then…you just know. I have learned something valuable about my home over the last 10 months; when something is a part of who you are at your very core, you are never really without it. St. John and it’s community are at the very heart of the woman that I have grown into over these last 9 years. Love City is sewn into the fabric of my being and she has been with me every step of the way as I have traveled through the states sharing the story of her recovery; and with every event, I have been offered a glimpse of just how far the magic of St. John reaches past her shorelines. I watch people’s eyes brighten as they pull me aside, time and time again, to share the ways in which the island has touched them personally. St. John changes lives. I truly believe it is a place that adds more light into the world and I am so very proud to call it home.
I love a new year – it always seems full of potential and the idea that anything can happen! However, the first days of 2018 are feeling slightly less stand out than I expected. It is not because they hold less excitement – quite the opposite, actually. The thing is, I spent the last few months of 2017 committed to seeing each morning as brand new, a fresh start. It was the only way that I knew how to find hope in the aftermath of the storms that had altered my life immeasurably. As a result, the feeling that usually comes for me on January 1st had already become my daily ritual.
On September 6th, I sat in my closet on St. John while the strongest Atlantic based hurricane in history raged around me and shifted absolutely everything in a way that one cannot really imagine until it happens. Just a few weeks later my year and a half relationship ended in a deafening silence and all I could think was, “Well, when your whole life gets completely upended at once you are left with nothing but possibility.” I knew that I had to choose a perspective that would not leave me paralyzed. I could not focus on what I had lost or I would never get out of bed again. I had to focus on what I did have and all the potential that lay before me. Continue reading “NOTHING BUT POSSIBILITY”
So, I finished this song about an hour ago. It is kinda raw, unpolished, and extremely rough around the edges – somehow it seems appropriate to share it that way. When I started writing the song it made me cry. By the time I finished, it had me smiling. This is for all of my island family who are displaced and wishing they were back on St. John…(lyrics below)
BACK TO LOVE CITY
I miss my island. I miss my home.
My people have scattered.
The strong winds have blown me
Back to mainland where I feel out of place
But I do my best to find hope in these spaces
Cuz they offer me shelter and kindness and love
And can’t understand why it’s not quite enough
It just isn’t Love City
Get me back to Love City Continue reading “BACK TO LOVE CITY”
5 days of prep, 11 days of clean-up, one day of evacuation, one day getting to my childhood home, two days of trying to rest unsuccessfully and regroup as best as one can, while watching the second storm hit from afar…20 days. How has it been 20 days since all of this started?
21 days ago, I had a picture in my mind of the days, weeks, and months ahead – so many of the details seemed assured and perfectly aligned. That is what we lost overnight – our clear vision of tomorrow. We are all experiencing an utter unknowing of what the future holds for us. Continue reading “AFTERMATH”