“Listen, You Don’t Know. . .”
Mike Ditka the dog and Clint bathed in light at 22 mph.
“Listen. You don’t know it all.” That is what a close friend and wellness professional asked me to convey in a painting for their office. I made sketches. I wrote. I focused on the “You,” the “know,” the “all,” and even the implied “they.” I thought of too many cheesy ways to convey “Listen.” I had finally settled on a composition of hundreds of faces all with imagined backstories. I finally had it all sketched out and then left the studio for a work obligation. Driving home that night I saw an illuminated road sign. It was mounted to a pole and was raised high above the interstate. It was a little busted up, yet it was a beacon shining, attracting the attention of evening drivers. I realized that I had been over-thinking the painting.
This morning I got a message from an old friend that I hadn’t seen in years. She purchased a painting, and I offered to deliver it to her. She said please bring Mike Ditka the dog along. When I brought the art, we sat and talked. We talked about many things. She had experienced so much since we last talked face-to-face. She told me things that she went through that I believe would have crushed me. She spoke openly about what will happen next. She talked about sewing. She talked about veins, arteries, and ligaments. She talked about what connects us. She talked about what flows through us. I realized that in all of here stories were important relationships and interactions.
She is the strongest, most positive, and most open person I know.
It is our interactions that connect us. It is our connections that make us stronger. Together, it is our interactions and our connections that allow us to live forever. We are in many ways the continuation of those who we have learned from, formally and definitely informally. When we speak of someone we lost, for a moment they are with us again. When pass along what we have learned they move along to the future too. Inevitably we will be gone one day. What have we passed along from those who taught us? What will we give to be passed along?
When we work, it can be easy to get in the zone and not want to be disturbed. I am guilty of this way too often. My friend said something today that I’ll never forget. She was discussing these interactions that connect us all together, not just now but how these connections extend to the past and are already weaving into the future. She reminded me that not all things are visible. The important things often are not. Then as Mike sat at her feet and licked her hand, she loudly whispered, “It is all real, you know. You must know and remember that it is all real.”
Mike Ditka and I drove back to the studio. Somehow, the sun seemed to bathe us on every road we took. Today we were reminded in a way we should never forget that we are here to listen. We must accept that we do not know it all but also be endlessly curious because it is all so incredibly real.