Kiss the ground with laughter

The soul easily shines through any rainy day with laughter... and laughter is never very far from us when in the presence of children.  Keep them close and strive to be like them... laughing, twirling, simple and free. 

"Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper your sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain."
kahlil gibran - the prophet.

Sexier Than Mosquitos

What could be funkier than a mosquito’s tweeter? Just simply check out the lunatics gathered in downtown Mobile this past weekend. Fifty of the funkiest, sole-shaking, pump-strutting, vintage-clad models to work the catwalk were showcasing the latest old-fashions as an event of Mobile’s Arts Alive weekend.
Courtney (CoCo) Matthews, owner of Lunatix, the awesomely unique boutique located in downtown Mobile, coordinated the affair with complete due diligence of fun, funk, and fabulous fashion for participants and viewers. Models showcased clothing and accessories from local artists who have sewn, glued, painted, and printed glamour and art into the dusty styles from the past, making each piece new and fashion-forward for today’s hip locals. Hair and makeup was made loud, proud, and poofed by amazing talents of local artists. If the themes of eighties style, mosquito’s beauty, and uncaged birds strutting the catwalk were not unique enough, the show was even stapled together with intermissions of fire blowing, bicycle entertainers, and the hypnotizing hips of a local hoop dancer. Eyes stayed glued to the entertainment, while toes were tapping along to the eclectic play list of Prince, Queen, Spoon, Nina Simone, and other heart-rocking beats.
One of the most exciting experiences of the show was participating in an event able to re-invent a city’s definition of “sexy” for at least a day. While the word has the ability to call to mind scantily clad women and shirtless six-packed men in a typical American(unfortunately might seem synonymous for Abercrombie) setting, Matthews’ gathering of local lunatics took the word to another, and needless to say, better level. Sexiness radiated from the catwalk’s array of talents, races, gender, and ages. As young as two-years old, youth designs included crafty crochet accessories and sock monkeys to the fantastical designs of unicorns and tutus. Local tweens, both boys and girls, showed out on the runway with neon and lights as part of the eighties collection. Men rocked fur vests and fedoras with their walking canes, while women rocked leopard jumpsuits and made mosquitoes and moths desirable and attractive for the first time ever. Paradoxically to our culture, mothers were showcased throughout each of the artsy themes as naturally sexy, intelligent, and fun, greatly attributed to the impeccable adroitness of the mother-in-charge herself, CoCo Matthews.Who else could have a bird perched in a nest of purple hair ontop a woman’s head as she twirls in a red and white full length, full skirted, corset-tied birdcage dress as the sexy finale? …None other than the beauty-full Lunatix.

I dare you to find a match to the sexiness of Mobile’s annual fashion event in any episode of Project Runway or any page of Cosmopolitan magazine. Thank you local lunatics for creating a lovely getaway from the mainstream khakis and collars to the catwalk theme of winged-things and unicorns. Thank you for identifying our sexiness in terms of vintage clothes, screen-printing artists, mothers and kids, winged eye makeup and bird nest hair. Thank you for making beauty-full lunatix of us all!

WE are Necessary.

(re-posted from Awakening the Everyday blog)

Even in my weakest moments, I am seen as important and worthy.  Even in the hair-pulling curse-worthy moments, I am looked at with loving and supportive eyes.  Even in the pity-party, PMS moments of my day, I am given a hand to hold or a kiss on the cheek.  I have been living life on the margins within the L’Arche community for just more than five years now, and I am still in the process of realizing all the aforementioned statements are Truth. While I do live and work in the land of the red, white, and blue where we pride ourselves on individuality and freedom, I am still among the majority of our global society shackled to the nagging questions of our humanity: What can I offer? Am I good enough?  Will they still love me?

My life holds with it a personal collection of struggles and challenges, beauties and gifts, just like everyone else, each relative to their own experience of Life.  Many times I find myself alone, questioning the presence of god not only in my own daily happenings but also searching for a god of any significance within the bigger picture.  As my cynicism often gets the best of me, I am left alone with my questions and doubts.  Of course, if I manage to look beyond the tip of my own nose, I am able to quickly realize any meditation on these doubts is silly and dead-end from the beginning.  To be alive – spiritually and emotionally in this physical life – is to live in full faith that You and I are necessary.  I can question the power of God, the rhymes and reasons of Life, the significance of praying to a Higher Power, but to doubt the person next to me is the first step in losing my Spirituality. 

L’Arche is an imperfect community made up of imperfect individuals striving for something extraordinary.  It is a community of people living on the margins of society, working from the ground up, living as signs of hope for a beautiful and dignified world. My work upholds my Spirituality in knowing we are worthy of lives full of Love, and that together we discover Redemption in our imperfectness.  While the heart of our community lies in the individuals with intellectual disabilities, each of us comes to L’Arche in search of our refuge, our salvation.  While Diane struggles physically with the constraints of a wheelchair, hands tight and constricted from Cerebral Palsy, and a voice that is hardly intelligible to most people, she depends on me and others to keep her included in every choice of her life from going to the bathroom to mopping the kitchen floor.  While I may have the intellectual and physical capability to choose my daily choices, I struggle with an overbearing ego and an idea of individualism that keeps me guarded and distant from those around me. I depend on Diane and others to keep me grounded and involved in the importance and significance of the daily routine of life.  Together, Diane and I are redeemed in the here and now of Life by recognizing we belong to each other. We are held together in forgiveness, compassion, and acceptance. L’Arche communities are able to meld the strengths and weaknesses of individuals in ways that are rare within our global mindset of achievement and progress.  While I continue my journey in community, I am now blessed to watch my daughter grow in this unique environment with the hope that some day she will dance on the margins of our world with a known sense of freedom in Love with others.

If we keep our faith in each other and remember the necessity of even the weakest among us (which we may often identify as our self), we are capable of achieving an extraordinary life of love and beauty.  I am important and worthy.  I am supported and loved.  I am necessary. WE are Necessary.