52 And Counting! And it isn't just age!

I was recently blessed with the company of dear friends visiting from Colorado.  The husband in this couple (Louie) and I go way (way) back. He's the kind of friend you 'hang your hat on' so to speak.  He's there, he's always there, he wants and intends to be there and he's not going away.  Thank you Louie for that kind of friendship.  And his wife, whom I adore and had the pleasure of meeting much later in my friendship with Louie, is a lovely lady and someone I know will be around till friendships die (literally).

They are people I greatly admire and esteem and really have fun creative ideas about living life.  One thing he mentioned while they were visiting is they are currently living out what I will call "The 52".  "The 52"?, I bet you are thinking.....  Well, let me explain.  Take on the challenge of doing one 'new' thing every week.  Yep, that would add up to 52. 52 new things to experience in one year.
He gave no details, no guidance, no rules.....so I thought, how great.....52 new things in one year.  I'm sure I already doing that....but am I doing it with INTENTION....thus back to the point of my blog..."Living with Intention".  Or as I see it....paying ATTENTION to life.  And wait, I'm 52 this year...what a beautiful year to really start living intentionally with my own personal 52!!!

Ok, that sounds damn good to me. So here we go.

52.  Poetry Slam

 

Now, I've never been to a true Poetry Slam or even a poetry reading for that matter and yes that's the true intention of a Year of Living......Intentionally!  Experiencing NEW and DIFFERENT things.

Wow, I was blown away.  Now I'm an artsy gal.  I have a degree in Theatre (not that, that really means a lot) but I love all things creative.  I truly think. up till tonight. I thought poetry was memorized in elementary school and read at Presidential Inaugurations.  I didn't realize it lives, 'day to day'!

Guess the Hell What...it lives day to day - really!  In the lives of so many people....of every shape, age, color, class, well you get my drift.  Bottom line...............................I was blown away!  What a great way to start my 52.

So many folks from all walks of life are jotting these lines of truth, "their truth" down on slips of paper, scraps, beautiful journals, note books lugged everywhere and yes, even just in their brains (maybe they aren't 52 years old yet........)

First the shy African American teenage girl that read a poem about trust - indicating she wants the people in her life to Trust Her.....to the young white lady who confessed to having spent 11 months in the building "next door" which is the Justice Center (jail for those of us not familiar with the term Justice Center).  She spoke of living with prostitutes and addicts and then her own confessions of being addict too.  One line in her poem..."in bondage, yet still debating"  really spoke to me even though I don't battle a substance addiction.  Don't we all do that in some walk of life...."in bondage, yet still debating"....how truthful!

The poems went on and on and each beautiful, gut wrenching, honest (how can they be so honest and vulnerable in front of all of us) to humorous, to sad, to redemptive to determined.  Like the amazingly attractive African American woman fighting day to day with the reality of Sickle Cell Anemia (and I even thought now that's a chronic illness I haven't hear a lot about lately) and that was her point!  People still have this disease....they still get diagnosed and fight day after day...yet do we ever hear about it?  See it in the news?  Supports 'walks'....I could go on and on.  But my own experience is no, I never hear about it.  Her question was, why?  And I had to think about that....why is that?  Does that disease not matter?  It stopped me in my tracks!

The bottom line is, I experienced something I had never done before - a real reading of original poetry and I was lifted up.  Inspired....it made me appreciate these young, old, black, white....etc.....people that can simply record their thoughts and their feelings and expose them for all of us to hear and judge...yes, let's face it...we judge daily what we hear. 

And my judgement for today is I am inspired by your honesty and I want to live that kind of life myself.  Honest, true, open, exposed, raw, sometimes ugly, but then again beautiful and always with the best of intentions!

I'm in!  Can't wait for # 51.  I invite you to join me on this journey!  Find your own 52 and feel free to check in on mine as well!

For more information on Sickle Cell Anemia

Sickle Cell Info

Sickle Cell Disease Association of America

CDC - Sickle Cell Disease (SCD)

For more information on poetry

Poetry Info

Poetry Slam