Hello again Europe,
Just checking the pulse of your heart! Glad to be back! I should address you more properly, but today i feel casual, thankful, awake and happy to see you again friend. Let’s just be ourselves with one another. I enjoy you. And I think we all need one another now.
We are all precarious right now, so let’s be kind to one another for another train ride or so….let’s share ferris wheels and zoos and things which remind us of life. I always love it, when we are alive together, just listening, beholding in thanks.
I always feel welcomed here. People whistle in Belgium-a good sign. I always notice that, and their curiosity about other. Talked to about ten people on the train up, and in several different languages. I like speaking other languages when jet lagged-makes it more poetic, and you don’t care as much about mistakes! The lady on the train held suitcases from sliding for a Spanish family, and the fellow across from me told me all his favorite spots and festivals, and invited me for dinner this week.
Kindness cannot be overrated in these days. Gentle curiosity in language and action. Tenderness, what a great state of being, even, is in short supply these days!
Once, my wife Amy fell off her bike here, literally nine people came to help, including an old man with a cane! Kindness combined with a curiosity about other are helpful attributes these days!
First things i always notice in belgium: people whistle, they don’t make straight lines, and they are genuinely curious about other. Makes sense Pieter Bos (the late nations theologian from Holland) called belgium, “creative friend”. Feels true to me at least. And we all could use a creative friend at the end of the world!
Nice to be back, and see some old arts friends today as well. We picked up just where we left off in our stories (which are still odd tales)…as life should be. Also to enter with a monkey-clad ferris wheel celebrating one of the oldest and definitely best zoos in Europe felt specifically welcoming to me—combining creatures and child like wonder are two of my favorite things. At the center of the ferris wheel were images of kids playing with animals, my kind of symbol! Plus, this zoo is art, seriously! As is the train station of course.
Sorry to take photos of the normal, and myself (I was my only model to work with today-that will change tomorrow! One good thing about being your own model, is you work for free!) but I always see it best upon arrival. See people, places and things for the wonder they are, that is.
Sort of like seeing an old friend, you haven’t seen in a while. You see them almost as if for the first time again. Just this side of in between-as I often am in life! Like I said, i like the in betweens, i see the symbols clearest there! Tried to do only selfies today, tomorrow only doors. It’s good to make limits! Glad to be back with europe, an old friend!
“You are a gem in Him, so shine!”, I heard today as I came in. I often hear little words or word poems, as i come into regions or cities, or see old friends. So, I concur, as I am back in the diamond city again. Nice to see you again creative friend. Let’s play like the monkeys, otters and squirrels, like little kids in an enormous room! “Until we are what we really are.”
That was my little entrance prayer today anyway! Love you Europe despite ourselves. And in clear view also of what we are, and are becoming. I like how our stories intertwine at the heart. Just checking in on yours today, as I land into it!
(Written on napkins and receipts in travel. Thought I’d share it. Thanks for your patience and kindness. Let’s welcome one another as if we were forever.)