Beautiful reflection, as always. The concept of showing up has been central to me for a long time, thinking of times when someone showed up for me. Wanting to be the person who shows up, who makes someone else feel seen and included. I haven't spent much time thinking about showing up for myself - I thought of that as just “getting on with it.” So, thank you for that.
The cookies at the Alateen meeting made me smile. As a child of 9 and 10, I was going to Alanon meetings with my father on weekends, except that I did not understand what they were. We were going to a meeting at a church, and the childcare was in the stuffy, windowless basement with concrete walls painted dull colors and tan, metal folding chairs. At the end, everyone came together to share desserts. There was lemon meringue pie.
It wasn’t until we had a unit on alcohol abuse in fifth grade that I understood what it was. And that we hadn’t been going to them lately. And that he had started drinking again. And I was scared. I remember padding into my mother’s room in the night because I was too overwhelmed to sleep, with my new knowledge about my father’s alcoholism. She started to cry, saying, “Oh, honey, I thought you understood that.” I hadn’t. I just knew we were going to a meeting, and there was lemon meringue pie at the end.
SO SO true! "In other words: we are never fully over ourselves, or this world. We are always doubling back, and even as we enter new possibilities, we carry ourselves — which means all of ourselves — into these possibilities. We repeat and rewind. We move forward and look back."
Thanks for showing up every week, Devin!
Beautiful reflection, as always. The concept of showing up has been central to me for a long time, thinking of times when someone showed up for me. Wanting to be the person who shows up, who makes someone else feel seen and included. I haven't spent much time thinking about showing up for myself - I thought of that as just “getting on with it.” So, thank you for that.
The cookies at the Alateen meeting made me smile. As a child of 9 and 10, I was going to Alanon meetings with my father on weekends, except that I did not understand what they were. We were going to a meeting at a church, and the childcare was in the stuffy, windowless basement with concrete walls painted dull colors and tan, metal folding chairs. At the end, everyone came together to share desserts. There was lemon meringue pie.
It wasn’t until we had a unit on alcohol abuse in fifth grade that I understood what it was. And that we hadn’t been going to them lately. And that he had started drinking again. And I was scared. I remember padding into my mother’s room in the night because I was too overwhelmed to sleep, with my new knowledge about my father’s alcoholism. She started to cry, saying, “Oh, honey, I thought you understood that.” I hadn’t. I just knew we were going to a meeting, and there was lemon meringue pie at the end.
♥️♥️♥️
Forwarded this one to several people. Thanks, Devin!
SO SO true! "In other words: we are never fully over ourselves, or this world. We are always doubling back, and even as we enter new possibilities, we carry ourselves — which means all of ourselves — into these possibilities. We repeat and rewind. We move forward and look back."
Thanks again for your posting x
nice! i just finished a review of his latest; his work completely new to me,