... dining-room table, her name, written in felt pen on a sticky label, that peeled and curled like a dying leaf on her lapel. In front of us lay plates filled with lunchtime fare and the corporate clattering chatter of a corporate building, boxy, concrete and glass and ugly in its sterility.
Outside the sea rose and fell in thick grey slabs upon the shingle and the sky was low and restless. A small knot of people were sheltering under the iron work of the pier and a gull hung upon the wind.
We talked about the papers we'd heard. We politely laughed in the way that two strangers laugh together. Her eyes were as bright as forget-me-nots and her relaxed smile enchanting. She told me of the session she had just run, how, at the end, some of the people attending cried. She was touched, but not surprised. She then told me about the times she had cried and I could read each tear in every line of her face.
After awhile, she looked up and smiled and asked me my name.
I looked at that smile and into those eyes and with an ice-cold realisation I understood two unshakeable truths:
1. I had no idea what my name was.
2. That the next (perhaps last) stage of my life would be to find it...
...(O:
ReplyDeleteHow sweet! has thou found love or at the very least glimpsed its sweet obsession?
ReplyDeletekelly
Hahaha No, not love in the romantic sense (I am very, VERY happily married), but it was one of those encounters when someone touches deep into the soul and there is a profound unlocking of some realisation.
DeleteA moment in time, so eloquent and profound. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mandy - yes a life-turning moment.
DeleteOh no, I am so sorry to hear that. Please pass on to him my love and my sincerest and warmest good wishes, and that I hope that he will soon be well again
ReplyDeleteIt is such a pleasure to read another Blog from you, Richard. I love the way in which you connect your inner & outer life, an encounter with a stranger & the call to a new journey of discovery. I love your openness to the Other. I have never seen you erect defences against anyone. That is why it is such a joy to work with you. You bring the same quality to a lecture that you have brought to this beautiful piece.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Stephen. The Other seems to be a magnet to my life!
DeleteRichard..powerful leader
ReplyDeletenames fascinate me. do we grow into the name we were bestowed with upon birth, or is there another truer name that we each possess carved in our bones..not just a word that someone somewhere gave meaning to, but a thing of power in some ways, that could bring forth the manifestation of a person's real identity...
who are you?
;)
I know, I've often thought that too. I am not sure, but it was a real realisation of the latter that struck me on that lunchtime and that a simple question about 'who I am' and I couldn't answer it... written down, it all sounds a bit daft, but I know that if anyone can get near to understanding what I am trying (failing) to articulate, it'll be you! ;)
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