L O V E

In 2003 one of my dearest and oldest friend, Mary, was living and working in Tucson, Arizona. She left a boyfriend of ten years, her family, and the only life she ever knew to follow her heart. I was living in Cleveland, Ohio and came out to visit her. This was my first time in AZ. That weekend was suppose to be a lunar eclipse, and we thought we’d take a road trip ending in Sedona for the big event. We packed a cooler, a few good cd’s, and web quested our route. Pretty straight forward….but we couldn’t help feeling a bit like Thelma and Louise!! Neither one of us had ever been to Sedona, and our four hour road trip felt like an adventure! I can remember Mary’s long hair blowing out the window as she drove and my leg hanging out of mine!

The picture above was taken that weekend on Cathedral Rock in Sedona. Mary and I had spent all day hiking. We started getting pretty deep into our hike when all of a sudden I started crying uncontrollably for no reason at all. Mary tried to comfort me, but there was no use. I wasn’t sad–instead I was having the time of my life—these tears were coming from another place, like they were being pulled from me. We kept hiking and I kept weeping…to the point where my crying became loud whaling sounds. Finally, I think Mary was becoming a bit frustrated and embarrassed as fellow hikers walking by would stop and ask if they could help. So we sat down as I tried to compose myself.

Breathe in. Cry. Breathe out. Cry. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in.

Mary snapped this photo of me once I pulled myself together. It was taken with one of those Non-digital cameras…remember those? So we had to wait till the film was developed to see the magic that was really happening around me. I keep this picture safe in one of my journals, and it wasn’t until I saw Alma Stoller’s photos she took of herself at Art Unraveled that I remembered this wondrous photo.

There are moments in our life where things are being pulled from us–being forced to surface even–like my uncontrollable crying on Cathedral Rock. We don’t know why. But this photo always speaks to me that there is so much more around us that we have no conscious sense is there. I like to think that the light I am drowning in is Love. Not God, not the universe, not the power of the vortex that so many believe is the strong energy in Sedona, but L O V E.