Ron Swanson — the gruff libertarian from the ‘Parks ‘n Rec’ sitcom — appeared in a dream last night. In the show he is a secret jazz musician, which is surprising, because his character is otherwise abrupt, hyper-masculine, and unaccommodating of the usual rules of civil discourse. In my dream, we were to dance the tango. I won’t bore you with the details, but the gist was that connecting is so, so important and that it can be done simply. Unannounced even. Without drama. It was also clear that some drama melts away in the presence of community.
There’s a difference between well-enjoyed solitude and isolation. Sometimes one slides a little too readily into the other.
This is on my mind, in part, because a friend of mine fell and broke her hip on Thursday. She lives alone. Her parents are gone, her siblings live in distant states. But, she has a wide and well-tended circle of friends. Yesterday’s big batch of chicken soup was made for her… and once I get over the shock of being old enough to have friends who fall and break their hip, I will move on to appreciating a friendship that has spanned almost thirty years.
“drama melts away in the presence of community”…this is so true an actually really beautiful. May we all have opportunities to live among communities that hold us this way…with acceptance and lack of drama. Sounds like a nice dream to me. As for hip breaking, OY! Are we that generation now? When did that happen? I have a few long-time friends too, I hope all of us keep our hips safe 🙂
yeah, the dream held a lot of potency for me, even though for a lot of other people that kind of common sense is a given.
blessings to your friend. and to you for your tender and generous heart!
i just love the bright, celebrational colors of these houses. my thoughts and mood can’t help but be lifted by them!
color can do that. I’m not a ‘pink person’ – but that linen background ? I just love it.