Fran Loosen

Day(a sad weather comparison to yesterday’s fabulousness), observe ten. //1. Morning walk had me thinking about the act of moving away from and the act of moving towards. //2. Moving to New York part-time was a solid away-from. Away from stuckness and stagnation, away from small, away from standing out. //3. I’ve moved away from things often in my life. Pack the truck and drive, find new lovely people, invest in new things. Less common was moving to something unless it was adventure. Those were good years of collecting and holding onto deep relationships far and wide. Every move brought beauty. //4. Facets of this move away from fade with a click of a key in a lock, gone. That new opening closes the door on what was in many ways. Grateful for that. //5. But the moving to, that reset is something different. I am a person who likes to move things forward, create, build, lay a solid foundation, flourish. Even after the hurricane, even in the wrong season. //6. The space between moving away and moving to can feel disorienting. Like upside down, like floating, like untethered. //7. Last week I went back to South Texas, to the coast where the hurricane took everything, everything down to bare. So many loves are being laid bare these days, on so many levels. //8. What I’ve learned is that you just need a grip, “hand holds” as my favorite boss Ted used to call them. Things you can use to hoist yourself up or steady yourself on the climb. Friends are that, art is that, ritual is that. Hand holds when the surface feels slick. //9. The coastline emerges with new things, life returned. The trees already dramatically angled from years of sea wind survived. We will too. Even when it doesn’t feel like it. //10. For some things/there are no wrong seasons./Which is what I dream of for me. //Hurricane by Mary Oliver//.