By: Rebecca Liston
I want so much for you to lean in close to me today. Never before have I wanted such a thing quite so much…
***
I was picking up class materials for my youngest at our Waldorf school this morning. Never had I wanted to hug people more in my entire life than I did today. I wanted to hug the parents that were waiting in line, spaced 6 feet apart from one another. I wanted to hug Annette, our school administrator, who met each of us at the door, gloved, but smiling. And I wanted to hug the teachers who, instead of enjoying their March holidays, were behind the school windows, working tirelessly to put together learning plans for our kiddos, themselves struggling with their own fears and worries.
But I could not hug them. And so instead I smiled, and nodded, and loved on them from a distance. We were all there, Together…as it should be.
***
Last night my 10 year old daughter sat on the stairs as I did the dishes. “You okay, bug?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“You sure?”
“Yep.” (said with less conviction)
I went and sat beside her, and drew her close.
And I began to sing “You Are My Sunshine,” the song I sang to her every night as she fell asleep from the day she was born until she decided it wasn’t “cool” any more.
And she wept. And I wept. And we were Together. As it should be.
***
And you, Dear Reader, if you were here with me right now, would I offer you a hug? Would I sing to you?
What would I do or say in this moment?
I would ask you to lean in close, Dear One. And to feel me loving you with every fibre of my being. I might cry. You might cry. Or maybe we would giggle a bit and shake our heads at the total effing craziness that we’ve found ourselves in.
But no matter our reactions, no matter the words we shared or the reactions we had, we would both know one thing for certain:
I got you, Dear Reader, and you? You got me. Always. As it should be.
Rebecca Liston is cofounder and business intuitive at Las Peregrinas, a creative and consulting agency. She specializes in anchoring folks in a clear-eyed understanding of which path is theirs for the taking. She’s got one foot in the land of the subtle and unseen, and the other foot firmly planted in the land of ruthless pragmatism. Oh, and she swears like a sailor, which makes us love her more.
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