The Beauty of Being Welcome: Ode to the Riff Raff

Tonight I feel humbled and appreciative.

I want to walk outside and just scream I'M SO FUCKING GRATEFUL out into the night sky.

It is incredible what can happen when you love the shit out of yourself and the people in (and out) of your life.

First, a nerdy aside:  I got 100% on my second final. I'm pretty proud of the fact that, in both classes, I got a 99.5% out of 100. (Oh, don't front. You know how these profs are. Giving out 100s as final grades for the class makes them look bad hahaha - I am currently showing all of my teeth in the widest smile I have. Which, admittedly, is pretty damn wide).

The holiday went beautifully. Leave it to loved ones who have either gotten kicked out of their families, are immigrants whose families are in other parts of the world, or who are both to be who I celebrate love with most years. I wouldn't have it any other way. I love the way the people in my life love me and love each other. I particularly love it when friends of mine who haven't met before, meet. It is simply the best. New and old, familiar and just wonderfully getting-closer-to.

It's been pretty magical to have family of origin sprinkled into the mix this year- somehow, they fit in the above categories as well. Healing can come in the most unfathomable forms, folks.  And one of them is me and my brother laughing and encouraging the fuck out of my nephew's beautiful antics and hilarity in exploring the world of his relatively new life.

Of a particular shout out is hanging out with Xavi one on one for a million hours. The amount of love I have for him is pretty ridiculous. We have had so many chapters and so many different kinds of adventures within them. On the top of my mind in this moment is his testimony that I'll never forget: Him sitting on the stand in his navy uniform and telling the truth about what happened that night. But, specifically, I will never forget his total badass-ness in taking down the lawyer that tried to fuck with him around his English while he was on the stand. The second that pants-suited dick said something and I saw Xavi lean forward on the stand, I knew it was over. FUCK YESSSSS.  I am still cheering that shit on.

In any case.

Really good things are culminating. I'm grateful for every single person in the mix that chooses to connect to something larger than fear. On all fronts and with hearts fully open and ready. What comes out of it is worth every single moment of courage-mixed-with-fear in order to create something different. In order to create something that matters.

I love you.

Let's do this.

This song, always and over and over again. 


K.

(image: Apollo 8 Coming Home, 1969, Robert McCall)