I don't know how to make sense of the world.

I don’t know how to make sense of the world. But I do know that there is still so much beauty and color and dogs and new friends to meet. There is still gathering together and writing stories from our lives, and bougainvillea petals and tiny insects attached to cactus that turn cherry red when you smoosh them in your palm. There are wedding parades and giant paper maché puppets and fresh bread and strong coffee you didn’t have to make yourself. There are brand new friends you want to say “tell me everything” to. There is still magic and synchronicity and the wonder of how our lives are interwoven. There is still an opening in your heart that is undefended, that wants to swallow it all whole.

(I wrote this from Oaxaca last week and I’m going to continue below)

I don't know how to write about what's going on in the world, but I do know that in Oaxaca, in a village just outside the city, is a family of weavers, three generations that all live together and have passed along their craft of gathering the wool, cleaning and brushing it, spinning it into giant hanks and then dyeing it with plants and insects.

They made us red mole enchiladas with grasshoppers for lunch. And when we arrived, the first thing they did was offer us mezcal and burn copal incense and say Zapotec prayers because everything they do is with intention and with a connection to Mother Earth.

I don't know how to reconcile all of these realities. I don't know how to watch this country, Minneapolis, this government, and still do the work of marketing my classes and wonder whether I'll find a date on the dating apps or consider arugula or spring mix at the grocery store. It all seems so absurd.

What I do know how to do is gather, like we did all week in circle in Oaxaca, to listen to each other's stories, lives interwoven, braided together like a tapestry of this very human ride, to remember that I could see myself in every single story, that we are all mirrors for each other, that our fates are tied.

My word of the year is Gather. And it still feels right.

Next opportunity is at my SoulCollage® Women’s Circle starting next week - February 4th/5th. There is still room!