We Fall, We Break, We Gather

We fall down in life.

Maybe we're pushed,

Maybe we're awkward.

It happens time and again.

We break into a thousand pieces

And we get up and put ourselves back together.

We leave some fragments on the ground....

We kick them aside.

We make ourselves whole...

We become more with less.

We become...

In our own image.

I have been thinking about some of the extraordinary people I know and love deeply. Thinking about how they were never very "compliant" to rules, and in the end they are extraordinary exceptions to the rules.

The rules might say that...unless you do "THIS" you're wasting your time. Unless you behave THIS way, you're not a "good" person. Or, more strongly, if you've done THAT....you're bad.

Unless you think like I think....you're opinion doesn't matter.

Unless you're THIS....you are obviously THAT.

There is so much life between the poles of extremes where the rules of THIS or THAT are firmly planted and I guess no one has broken into a thousand pieces in those extreme places because they've got walls 6 ft thick "protecting" their precious bubble of opinion. Or, maybe they are just too shattered and they are surrounded by others who are just as shattered and all of the pieces are mixed together and they just don't know where to begin creating themselves in their own image....let alone....let someone in who is the exception...to the rules they stay broken by.

It is a mystery to me, because my world is lived fully in the middle....between this and that. Or maybe another way of saying it is...with some of this...and some of that because I am far from middle of the road or average.

I've fallen down so many times, been pushed and jumped and kicked pieces aside and made myself over...again and again, and I am....in...awe....of those I know who are the "exceptions" to the rules.

And I know that in my own shattering I've gathered...accidentally or on purpose, shards of those around me who were also broken at the time...and those pieces we exchanged...they became embedded in our hearts in the best possible way.

Yeah, that is where I am today.

In....Awe...

And in love with the way beauty and love...and depth, and understanding...happens in the most broken and even law breaking places.