Author: thelettersoflove

So many thoughts a-swirl this week, as Inauguration Day 2017 approached– thoughts I’ve been candidly sharing in this newly-launched blog– and this David Bowie tune that some of you may recognize has been on repeat in my head throughout these restless days and nights. The lyrics & the tone of this song manage to sum up (some of) my thoughts for this week, or rather it encapsulates, in a way, many of the questions that continue to trouble me as we enter a Trump presidency.

I happen to have been born in the part of the world known as The United States of America, but I do not think of it as a country that is united, and if you’ll allow me to be a bit controversial, I’m not at all sure that I believe in America.

“American Exceptionalism?” Nope.

The American Dream? Not a concept I’ve ever really sought after, I have to say.

Pledging allegiance to The United States? Not something I feel comfortable doing, for a pretty long list of reasons, many of which boil down to the fact that if I were pressed to declare my loyalty, it would be to The One Planet We Share, to The Better Future That Is Possible For All.  I remember learning at some point in my adulthood that we’re not actually surrounded by five oceans, but by one. We are all connected on Planet Earth, we are all interconnected and interdependent in ways we are only beginning to understand.

What does the world see when it looks at The US on Inauguration Day? What do I see? What do you see?

How do the choices each of us make every day affect, influence, impact the future that is before us, the directions the country is headed, the world that upcoming generations will inhabit?

What combination of events and attitudes and circumstances has brought us to this point of Donald Trump being elected as Head of State for one of the most powerful nations the world has ever seen?

How DID we get to this point, this version of America?

I have far, far more questions than answers as these events unfold some 3500 miles from my present location in The West of Ireland, but I do know that while I can not bring myself to believe in America, or at least the America of January 20, 2017, I believe in Americans, in the sense that there are so many people I care about so very deeply that are on American soil right now, though I am not. My concern is at heart-wrenchingly-high levels for the well-being of all of my beloved family & friends & neighbours & acquaintances in the US, for all Americans, and for all citizens of the world.

How do we move past this era of woeful words of hatred & division, how do we co-create the better world that I do believe, that I *have* to believe is possible, how *do* we shape a brighter future for all, a future of connection & compassion, of peace & plenty?

Your ideas, your letters of love, are welcomed…. ❤ ❤

A shorter post, this time, to bridge what has come before & what is yet to come….

Those of you that have been reading along this week will know that part of the impetus for moving this blog, as part of a bigger project, from The Stage of Percolating Ideas into The Tangible, was awakening on Monday to the startling, sorrowful realization that The Trump Inauguration was indeed imminent.

I do not exaggerate when I say that for me this has resulted in a state of mourning, so when I set out on a walk that day to clear my head, I chose to dress in black, just as I had on the day after the election, except for this pendant in shades of vibrant purple & electric blue. This necklace, purchased in the company of dear friends– fellow U2 fans– who were visiting Seattle this summer, reminds me that astonishing connections across space & time are possible, reminds me that there are so many wonderful folks who I’ve come to know through the power that music has to bring people together, reminds me that we are all so very connected on this one planet that we all share.

One planet, where we are all reliant on clean air & water, where we hold hopes for a vibrant livable future for ourselves, for our children, for all of the children of the world, no matter where they happen to have been born.

The next post will elaborate on these ideas, but for now I’ll close with a couple of songs that speak to the reality I see, that we *are* all one, that we are in so very many ways so very interdependent, and that many of us DO wish to Carry Each Other. (I’d forgotten until recently that U2 actually played at President Obama’s inauguration in 2009– not a perfect presidency to be sure, but it’s pretty heart-wrenching to have seen his messages of HOPE and “Si si puede/ yes we can” replaced by the hate-filled diatribes of Trump.)

Plus another for good measure, a joyous tune introduced to me by My Sweet Fella during our courtship, celebrating how we the inhabitants of this planet are indeed ONE…. ❤ ❤

Another day, another photo (or two!)  of curious creatures in County Clare…

Out for another walkabout on these winding roads & rocky pathways of rural Ireland, where some days you’re nearly as likely to encounter a tractor as a car or truck when you’re out for a ramble, in this peaceful place where the silence is like a presence, where the farm animals perk up their ears at the sound of the footfalls of your boots approaching and turn to watch you make your way home. (I generally greet them with a fond “Hello”!)

While here in the West of Ireland, I’m learning a lot about life in this place in these times, and getting pretty good at remembering which side of the road to walk on– learning to drive on the left, in a stick-shift vehicle, is on the list of tasks to be mastered *eventually*; for now, I’ve been growing accustomed to life as a passenger on errand- runs along the long winding roads that take us to towns several miles away, instead of walking or taking a bus and/or ferry to reach my intended destinations, as has mostly been my way of getting around during the 25 years!

Even had the experience last night of the-road-to-Crusheen being blocked by the neighbours’ cows out for an evening saunter– had heard tales of needing to wait for sheep or cattle to move along on the country roads of Ireland, but hadn’t yet seen such a thing ’til yesterday, amidst my 7th time over here since I first visited back in 1989….

The situation where I’ve *most* encountered the learning curve, though, this week, is in creating this blog– to the point last night of chanting “learning curve, learning curve, learning curve” inside my head ~and~ out loud when, despite a supposedly-saved draft, the lengthy post I’d been crafting throughout the day vanished into the aethers. Adding layers of skills and insights, though, as I teach myself to navigate these new paths.

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Also much on my mind this week, as referenced in that very-first-blog-post, is the looming inauguration of Donald Trump.

Tomorrow.

Ouch.

But “ouch” does not even begin to capture the deeply felt sorrow and concern that have weighed upon my spirit for many months now, as this event has drawn ever closer. I’ve had to severely limit my consumption of media this week, as it’s just so intensely painful to be confronted with the sounds & images of this surreal event actually moving forward, to consider the implications for so many people I know & love in the U.S. and all over this planet we share, the fine folks I am privileged to call family & friends & neighbours & acquaintances, fellow fans of music and arts and culture and celebration and justice and equality and unity….

More about some of those layers of connection in my next post, but for now, I’m going to get a little heavy, a little raw, because the pain is very real and my soul is truly hurting, and I know that others of you out there are feeling similarly. Though it’s a rare sunshiny afternoon in Ireland at the moment, I feel compelled to share this rather intense song that has been haunting me ever since that long dark agonizing devastating Election Night. It breaks my heart how much the chorus of this one rings true for me right now– I AM afraid of (some) Americans, and I am afraid for America. 

So, more to come soon– still working on my love letter to America/ Americans as a way to process through this impending inauguration; you are invited to do so too… ❤ ❤

💌LettersOfLove💌

Out for a morning walk to stretch my legs & clear my head, I find myself strangely jealous of these pretty sheep grazing on a green hillside in the West of Ireland’s County Clare, realizing that they are utterly unaware of the events transpiring this week across The Atlantic….

Approximately 5 days from now and 3300 miles/ 5300 kilometers away from here in Washington DC, somehow, against all reason, Donald Trump will apparently be inaugurated as the President of the United States.

This is the morning that the situation in America started to feel really really real to me. As I woke in the comfy bed tucked under the eaves in The Cosy Clare Cottage, I have to say that the weight of it all suddenly hit me mighty hard; as I looked out across the green grass & stone walls, in this astonishingly quiet storybook setting, as My Sweet Fella brought me tea & toast in bed, I was aghast to realize in a new way that This Is Really Happening.

What started out seeming like a bizarro-world/ surreal/ laughably improbable scenario has progressed through these last months through a distasteful & disgraceful election season through to the selection of The Candidate who received something close to 3 million fewer votes than his opponent, a man who espouses hate-filled sentiments & beliefs that I, and so many other folks, find intensely troubling.

So, today, I find myself in what feels very much like a state of mourning, for what has come to pass and for the potential ramifications on the global scale. Before heading out to walk the paths here in rural County Clare, I read a sobering article my daughter posted on Facebook regarding the extinction of important species in Costa Rica– “audible fossils” of the songs of these frogs are all that remains due to the impacts of short-sighted, wrong-headed, almighty-dollar-motivated human choices.

Amidst these challenging times, I *do* remain immensely grateful for the connections made possible by the technology I hold in my hands as I type out this blog post– the impressive tools that allowed me to so easily stay in touch with my daughter while she herself was studying tropical ecology in Costa Rica, the tools that allows me to be in daily contact with my family & friends around the globe, the miracles of modern technology that resulted in meeting My Sweet Fella here in Ireland from 7000 kilometers away on the West Coast of America! (More details of this intriguing story to come, to be sure….)

Which brings us to this blog post– I’ve had a whole passel of ideas percolating over the past few weeks & months about combining my passions for photography & words & images & travel & assorted philosophical musings, centered around the ways I have seen that words of love can powerfully impact us as we interact with the world as individuals, as families & tribes & cultures, and today I offer an opportunity to all of you to write, if you like– as I will later today– a love letter to America or Americans or our political leaders, at this moment when we find ourselves perched on the edge of the changes this new administration is certain to bring, to the United States and to the planet we all share….

Much much more to come, but for now, today, a blog is born! ❤️❤️