Writing the Future
Waking up early and not going back to sleep is not typically my favorite thing to do, but today was different. My 3-year old granddaughter slept over last night. I slept on the pullout in the living room; she slept in my bed with the memory foam, like a little queenie.
Throughout the night, she'd wake up and call out for her aunt, and I'd get up and rush into the room to soothe her, so she wouldn't wake my daughter up. I'd lie down with her and she'd wrap her little arms around my shoulder, toss her leg over my chest and then settle down for a few minutes before squirming about to get more comfortable -- this somehow ended up with a foot in my face and me nearly hanging off the bed.
"Grab the pillow, I got the blanket." She stood on her tippy-toes, leaned over the bed, stretched to reach, and tugged on the pillow until it budged free and nearly toppled her over. I giggled to myself, and we headed out to the living room. It was now 6:30am.
She clearly felt refreshed. "I want some apple juice!" Oh, okay. I looked longingly at the pullout with the piles of blankets and pillows -- not going to fight this. Into the kitchen I went to pour her juice. By the time I put the juice back in the fridge, she had already gone off and knocked on her aunt's bedroom door.
My daughter's long dyed-pink hair fell into the view from the doorway; I could tell she was moving slow. "What is going on? It's 6:30, why are you awake?" she asked me, groggily. I waved my hand lovingly in my granddaughter's direction. "Alright, come on in," she said, opening the door wide for the little one to walk through.
I turned back towards the living room, towards the pile of blankets and pillows and was just about to climb in and go back to sleep when a little excited voice inside my head happily exclaimed, "today's the day!" I'm planning to hang out with new friends today, and then head out to music tonight to see the guys from a local band -- I had stopped going to their shows because my former frequently accused me of messing around with the band's lead singer. Not true in the least bit. This was more a projection of their own actions, I later came to realize. So I'm taking back my life, and if I wanna go see them play, I'm gonna go see them play. And I'll wear their band shirt in support -- the shirt I stopped wearing so as to not upset my former. Crazy shit, man.
So anyway, I took in the moment -- the morning sun shining through the window, a new day with the promise of adventure, the opportunity to sip my coffee in silence and have at writing for a few minutes -- did I really want to go back to sleep and miss out on this?
As I reached for the blankets, I began my morning prayer, "Thank you for today, God," and I found myself folding the blankets instead of crawling under them. "Okay, I guess we're doing this." I put on the water for coffee and finished folding the blankets and the bed up back into the couch.
I read the morning prayer from the Jesus Calling book that my dear friend, Big Ed, had given me months before he passed away. He swore by this daily prayer/meditation book, and I never knew how important it would come to be in my life, especially after he passed on.
Afterwards, I checked my emails and social media accounts, and saw an article on a new exhibit that's on now through May 2021 up in Boston at the the Museum of Fine Arts. "Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation" is "the first major exhibition to contextualize Basquiat's work in relation to his peers associated with hip-hop culture." This is the kind of news I love to wake up to! I find Basquiat's work and his life story to be so interesting, although he died back in '88, such a damn shame. I don't know if the exhibit will come to New York, but I'm thinking a road trip to Boston is in my near future! (I think Yayoi Kusama's exhibit is due in New York in May 2021; I cannot wait!)
This particular exhibit is one that I would only have dreamed about going to -- I might have passed up the opportunity if I hadn't let go of this past relationship. Sounds crazy, but it's true. I know they wouldn't have been interested in the art, and the rude comments would have come, and if we had made plans to go, they would have made it an awful experience -- if we actually even ever made it there.
I plan to purchase the tickets and make the trip -- alone if I have to, wouldn't bother me. When I was struggling to let go of the relationship, I couldn't even fathom the events and opportunities that would present themselves like this. It's pretty exciting and refreshing.
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