Last week was a pretty bad week emotionally/spiritually. I’m not really sure why, it could have been the pendulum swinging back from my good time in Boulder or the general FUD both worldwide and locally. It might be the onset of the Christmas season and the fact that all good things are stained with this loss.
Saturday I had reason to drive to Fort Worth and on the way there and back I listened to The Moth podcast of stories told at their various storytelling events. I was headed back when this one came up, a story told almost a decade ago by Andrew Solomon. I should warn you, what it describes is horrible and should only be heard at the right moment. Fortify yourself. But it is also a story of incredible strength and hope. I was somewhere in the Mid-Cities when he finished and the whole thing washed over me at once–both an intense sadness and a weight-lifting, as if my own burden of sadness, pain and injustice briefly ascended to join with all those who also knew of it and more.