Saturday, October 19, 2013

Coming home


That street above, it's Paddington Terrace, taken from the gate of number 37, where I lived in the last few years before I left my home in Kingston, Jamaica and moved to another country for good. I didn't know when I was leaving to attend college in New York City that I would never again live in Jamaica. I didn't know that just a few years hence, my parents would relocate to the Eastern Caribbean and the house I think of as my childhood home would be razed so that a developer could put up townhouses. I didn't realize I would never again walk barefoot on that broken asphalt road from my house to my best friend Hilary's house, just around the curve you see there, but perhaps I did already know that all of the memories we made on that street would fuel me for the rest of my life.

I'm thinking this morning about the way certain experiences can dominate whole swaths of a life, and then suddenly, usually without warning, an era ends and a new one begins, and we have no choice but to make peace with what's past. If we're wise we will find a way to open ourselves to its gifts, even the ones that come rudely wrapped in sandpaper, as my cousin Helen, a life coach and intuitive, likes to say.

I ended an era last night. After 19 years at a women's magazine, I have crossed the threshold to a new stage. The company and I have come to terms, and last night, several of my former colleagues feted me at a venue reserved expressly for that purpose. I realized, as I was getting ready, that other than my wedding and baby showers, I couldn't recall ever preparing to attend an event held just for me. I know I had birthday parties when I was small, but as an adult, I have seldom been the focus of a celebration, and it was deeply uncomfortable to anticipate.

The experience itself was humbling. All the people I loved best at my former job were there, and as I walked into the elegantly appointed room they had reserved, I was enveloped in hugs and laughs and tears. Huge baskets of presents were on the center table, and everyone seemed genuinely happy to see me. I realized suddenly that I had not allowed them, or myself, closure. After being told my job had been eliminated, at the end of the day on Friday the thirteenth, I went straight from my editor-in-chief's office to meet with the HR person, and then I went home. I went back to the office two days later, with my son on a Sunday when no one else was there, packed up my things and left. Apparently the news had spread slowly the following Monday, and last night several people told me the reaction had been very much like grief. Some people were angry. Some were sad. Some were confused. And they had nowhere to put those feelings because I had not said goodbye.

I did send the usual so-long-and-see-you-around-it's-been-swell email on my last official day of employment, and I did communicate with some people by phone and email in the days following. The writer I so enjoyed working with, the one with whom I won many awards, still calls me every day, so our relationship has not been interrupted. And already there is a new opportunity for us to work together, so she and I will continue. But for the others with whom I had worked so closely for so long, there was no neat ending. I did not realize until last night how much it mattered. I had always assumed you get laid off, you leave the building, and the water closes over your head. But last night my friends and former coworkers went around the room and told me, one by one, what I had meant to them, how much they had learned from me, the times they said I talked them off the ledge, the conversations about children and schools, the personal sharing we did that had nothing to do with work, and I was so moved by it all. The writer sat beside me and kept shushing me when I tried to answer what people were saying. "No," she said, "you don't get to respond. You just need to sit there and take this in." And, throat full, I did.

Afterward, they put me in a cab with all my gifts, too many for me to carry, and I called home and asked my husband to send our son down to meet my cab. When I arrived, he was there at the curb with two of his friends who were visiting. These three strapping young men reached in and gathered up the baskets of gifts and I walked into the apartment building in their midst, my arms blissfully free, and I thought how ridiculously blessed I am in all directions.

And now, just like that, a new era begins. I think this one will be, in part, about integration of my long-fractured self, about bringing hidden identities into the light, owning them, about learning to live inside the body I have for so long tried to disassociate from, the self I have harshly judged and found wanting my entire life. This new era will be about stepping into a room and saying this is who I am, this is all of me, my abundant body, my years in the soft contours of my face, the uneven features that have never pleased me, but which are the only ones I have, the turbulent inner life I couldn't help but reveal, but only and always under an alias. It's about walking into a room and not fearing the flicker that passes across another's face as they take in my girth—as if the other person is even thinking about me at all!

It's time—it's past time. I am coming home to myself. I am like a disembodied soul seeking reentry to the body that has waited patiently and faithfully all these years for me to love it, and love me.

Yesterday, in a stunning post she called "Sing Your Body, Vesuvius at Home explored a similar idea far more eloquently than I could ever express. Read it here.


15 comments:

  1. Oh, this all brought tears of joy to my eyes. Yes, my friend. YES.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have so many emotions reading this post. I feel bewildered for you due to Friday the 13th, but then filled with warmth and joy at the thought of you in that room, receiving the love I know you deserve. Mostly I just feel this sense of solidarity and gladness at your beautiful closing paragraphs. Yes to integration! Yes to all of you! Yes to that disembodied soul finding a home in your gorgeous physical self! Thank you for the words--not just the ones about my own blog, but the ones about coming home to yourself as well. This is an important message. I hear you. I am with you, there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't know you but I am so happy for you and where you are is exactly where I strive to be. It does not surprise me that the dinner in your honor was filled with love and praise. Even not knowing you but seeing how you raise your children and treat your family and friends, I can imagine your goodness extends to everyone and everything you come into contact with. You are my hero today Angella! Sweet Jo

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love that photo. So evocative. We never know what's around the next curve, do we? I think you're approaching things well by considering life's sudden changes as opportunities, and how GREAT that your coworkers saw you off in such a stylish way! They obviously care for you and value your friendship and professional guidance. I look forward to reading about all the changes and adjustments and growth to come. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sounds wonderful, beautiful, healing. Sending you good wishes on your new journey!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your writing just blows me away. I get it. I get how you are feeling with all the complexity and hope and promise. And in reading your thoughts I connect with my own past and my future. You must be an amazing person to know. I glad you are surrounded by blessings and happy that you take note of them.

    ReplyDelete
  7. So glad to hear that they came together in such a warm and personal way to honor your moving on to the next phase of your life. May it be everything you want and need it to be. x0 N2

    ReplyDelete
  8. i know that was an incredibly moment. you should do something to celebrate you every day. no need to wait for others to do it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Who knew? Who knew that the universe would be so abundant? The water never really does close over your head, does it? Oh Angella. You deserve so many gifts because you have given so many gifts.

    ReplyDelete
  10. angella, i dont really know what to say, except this feels so right, so on time.
    when i started to read the post, i settled back in my chair, thinking oh, angella, is telling her story. i wanted to slow down and let it unwind. now..i want the next installment....when you're ready, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow...That event and you are both so special...your writing is so poignant and I know what is coming to you is something wonderful which you completely deserve. I had the weekend from hell myself and am still teary and cannot sleep...finding my friend as a corpse--an experience I hope you never have...I am still asking why and may never know the answer.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Just reading this makes me feel lighter. I think in any change, after the dust settles and the hurts have healed a bit, we always find a new avenue to take which turns out to be the avenue we should have taken all along. Sometimes the universe makes sense. what?! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  13. Bless you, Angella, You are a woman of poise and grace. This was beautiful to read. Onwards, upwards - and love with you. xo

    ReplyDelete
  14. I found your blog via another, as one does. This post was so beautiful and touching, so full of sadness and joy...comfort and longing.

    And thank you for the gift of the second paragraph. Blessings.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Gosh you write so beautifully. Yes you are coming home to yourself! Amen.You have beautifully acknowledged this moment in this piece of writing.

    ReplyDelete