Chasing the Ghosts

“To create dangerously is to create fearlessly, boldly embracing the public and private terrors that would silence us, then bravely moving forward even when it feels as though we are chasing or being chased by ghosts.”—Edwidge Danticat

I found this photo a year ago at the dangerous and fearless blog of the beloved and incomparable Ms. Radish King. Although she may not know it, throughout this year, she has inspired me to try harder, leap higher, dig deeper. Get out of bed. When my workplace gets trying, I dub it My Glamorous Job, with irony but no bitterness, because that is what Rebecca does, and I hope she understands that this bit of imitation is with the sincerest depth of gratitude, because those three words provoke me to smile. Rebecca might be surprised at how often she makes me smile.

I posted this photo today because it reminds me that we are never alone on this pockmarked plain. The grooves are there for us to rest in. I am happy to be in this place, where I have encountered all of you. It calls back how I felt when I first found the rooms, the sense of putting down the burden, the tears flowing from relief that my God, there were other people on this earth made just like me. Thank you for that, for every part of it. You and you and yes—you.