Yesterday it was Valentine Day, that special day that our culture has chosen to celebrate Love. A day to tell our loved ones how much we care, how much their presence is making our Life so much more precious, no matter how precarious She might be.
So I started my day by sending a text message to my son and his partner, follow by calling a dear friend to wish her Happy Valentine. Then I got outside to deliver a gift – a tale inspired by my granddaughter that I have written and illustrated with photos – to another dear friend with whom I shared the delight of having grandchildren. On my way, I stopped at a nearby chocolate maker for the pleasure of delighting my palate.
But my heart didn’t feel complete, rested. Honouring those I love, taking a moment to indulge myself, and walking back home with a detour through Le Champ des Possibles was quite nourishing, and needed to resource myself from the crazy challenges of the last weeks, but still there was something missing.
That is when I decided to join the Flashmob & Dinner to Honour Lives of Missing & Murdered Women.
As Alain Bolton says in an interview on On Being that I was listening earlier that day : “We must fiercely resist the idea that true love must mean conflict-free love, that the course of true love is smooth. It’s not. The course of true love is rocky and bumpy at the best of times.”
So to honour the more bumpy side, the conflict side of Love, to be around women and men who had chosen to honour those who couldn’t be there to celebrate, I have to admit, made so much more sense to my heart.
∞ ∞ ∞
And finally this morning, I was greeted by this song, which just confirmed, once again, that I was at the right place at the right moment, so that my heart could heal from too many years of having a hard, grieving, confused time to Love.
Here’s the lyrics of the song.
IL Y A TANT À FAIRE
Le temps n’est plus au regret
Il faut me ressaisir
Le vague à l’âme se naviguait
Et s’aborderait son navire
Il faut marcher, il y a tant à faire
Il faut rouler, m’acharner
Cent fois tourner, biner la Terre
Il faut tenir, il faut bâtir sur l’inconnu
Parier sa chemise qu’on gagnera au risque de finir tout nu
Les autres peuvent penser le contraire
Il faut rouler, s’acharner, cent fois tourner
Il y a tant à faire
Et ce n’est pas ridicule
C’est comme si c’était facile
S’immiscer dans la lumière
Une longue nuit de l’hiver
Je perds le fil de ma vie, il est tout petit
J’en fait une histoire personnelle
De manière professionnelle
Puis je le retrouve tôt ou tard dans le magistral de l’univers
Il faut tisser, il y a tant à faire
Et ce n’est pas ridicule
C’est comme si c’était facile
S’immiscer dans la lumière
Une longue nuit de l’hiver
Viendras-tu me voir au retour du printemps?
Que le temps passe long, passe long
Il y a tant à faire
Et ce n’est pas ridicule
C’est comme si c’était facile
S’immiscer dans la lumière
Une longue nuit… il y a tant à faire
Et ce n’est pas ridicule
C’est comme si c’était facile
S’immiscer dans la lumière
Une longue nuit de l’hiver
mari.e cornellier 