A Day with a Wayward Tulip

My last 24 hours in the Seattle area were spent with the amazing Liz.  If you don't read her blog please check it out.  She is full of truth, honesty, creativity, and beauty.  I mean she founded Poetry Thursday...how much cooler can one get.

We enjoyed Port Townsend a little more that morning, including brunch at an adorable French pastry shop, before heading to her home.  Our drive to Tacoma was filled with spurts of non-stop talking coupled with moments of deep quiet.  I think we both wanted to use our time to really bond but we were also both really exhausted.  So we alternated between talking and silence so that we could both bond and rest.

I met Liz in Seattle about a year and a half ago.  Since then we have stayed in touch through e-mails and phone calls, and of course reading each other's blogs.  But when I originally met her it was with a group of other bloggers.  This time I got her all to myself.  I didn't have to share her with anyone.  I got to see the famous Little Room from which some truly amazing ideas are birthed...and just about the cutest bags and aprons ever.  I got to meet Millie.  And I got to meet her husband John who we surprised with our arrival.  We caught him off-guard in the kitchen in the middle of filling vases with tulips for her return...isn't that sweet.

Our afternoon was spent just chillin' which was exactly what I needed.  I relaxed on her couch while flipping through some of her art books.  And I read through all of Theo's zines which Liz purchased on vendor night.  While I was lost in my own state of relaxation Liz was catching up on e-mails and finishing a really cool necklace she started in one of her workshops at ArtFest.  That evening she and John treated me to dinner at a favorite Thai food restaurant and then the three of us took a little trip to Borders.  Did you expect anything less from two book/poetry lovers?  She picked up several magazines and a copy of the newest volume of poetry by Li-Young Lee.  I purchased a volume of poetry by Jane Hirschfield whose glory I fully discovered for the first time in Susan's workshops.

As I was helping Susan pack up after Friday's workshop we talked some about my trouble owning my words.  She suggested I read the pieces I wrote in her workshops aloud to Liz as a step towards ownership.  So that night, after John retired, both of us in our jammies, I read my poems aloud as she sat cuddled under a blanket in the chair across from me. 

I don't remember everything that was said in the moments after I read.  I don't remember the details of our conversations at Borders.  I can't recall everything that was tossed between the two of us in that 24 hour period of time.  I just remember feeling at ease knowing I was with a like-minded soul.  I remember how good it felt to be with someone who also valued authenticity and realness.  And I remember feeling deeply connected to another soul who is also on a journey to discover the fullness of herself.

The next morning, after a hard sleep in one of the most comfortable beds ever, there was one last stop to make before heading to the airport and eventually home.  I needed to see the ocean one last time.  I felt the best was to say goodbye, until I'm able to return again, was to stand at the oceans edge, look out across the vastness of the silver water, and breath in the pacific air one last time...to maybe hear the squawk of seagulls, find a rock or two for my son, and whisper a little prayer of thanks for everything that transpired over the past few days.  I don't know exactly what it is about Seattle that has stolen my heart.  It's probably a lot of things combined including the handful of wonderful friends who call that area home.  And it is most definitely the close proximity to the ocean, the ocean I'm so far away from in the lower panhandle of Texas.  That's why I couldn't come home without kissing the ocean goodbye, hoping the wind would carry the scent of my skin into its depths so that when I do return it will remember me.

*all the images above are of Liz and her Little Room.  you can see some of her images of that morning at this post.   

Comments

[gkgirl]

i.
am.
soo.
envious.

of both of you...
getting to meet...

:0)

love the photos
and you have given me a goal...
someday
i
am
going
to
artfest.
:0)

[Star]

What a perfect ending to your time away. Love to read your words...

[jamie]

What a beautiful time. Precious moments shared make a life.

[Frankie]

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. It makes me so happy that two of the writers, women, souls, I admire most have connected in this way. I'm so glad you got to have this time together and this experience in Seattle. I know it will stay with you always, just as you are there swimming through the ocean. You, Liz and Seattle are all so much better for knowing each other. And it is wonderful. xoxo

[Marilyn]

Liz is a love. I was so fortunate to meet her in Portland two years ago.

[Thea]

I feel a peacefulness reading about your time together. I can so see you living in Seattle:)

XO

[Delia]

Sounds like a beautiful exchange between two of my favorites...
Love,
D.

[megg]

I'm so glad that you two got to spend what was obviously some much needed time together!

Ooh, I MISS SEATTLE!!

xo

[Dreamy]

Dear Michelle,
I have eagerly been checking in every day hungering for more words about your ArtFest experience, which you have articulated with such heartfelt beauty and honesty. Your words have been like glimmers of sunshine reaching all the way to Australia. So much resonance! Who says you won’t be writing a book (or many)! I know you will. Btw, today I ordered PoemCrazy. I had never heard of it before, but now - having read about it some more - I am convinced that I should read it! Thank you for the sunshine.

[Bethany]

I felt exactly the same way about Seattle when I visited ten years ago. I could have sat on a Pacific sandbank for hours, soaking in the wild beauty, the wistfulness of that place. I'm aching to go back now!

[liz elayne]

thank you my friend. how blessed i am to have you in my life.
(sending a deep hug across the country to you.)

i hope that something shifts in the winds and that you find yourself here one day and you are able to stay and make this part of the world home...

[deirdre]

I got to meet Liz almost two years ago in Portland; she touches my heart. It's wonderful you were able to spend a little extra time together. What a wonderful way to end a busy and unsettling week.

BTW, I love this line: "kissing the ocean goodbye, hoping the wind would carry the scent of my skin into its depths so that when I do return it will remember me". Gorgeous.

[darlene]

it all sounds so beautifully fabulous and am so glad you had such a fantastic time .. i miss the ocean and this is one of the few summers where i just can't afford to make the trip but reading this made me smell it for the a second and made me smile at beautiful friendships ...

[susanna]

Awww, what an amazing time you had! It is so great that you found a kindred spirit in Liz and her husband sounds like a sweetie. I've never been to Seattle but I've heard terrific things about the place and the people. :)