life stories: friendship gives life.

my friend jayme and i have walked beside one another a long time. we've journeyed as far as kenya and back. we've crossed the pond to visit each other. we've shared an art exhibit at a local coffee shop. we've shared a home, food, our sweet dog piggy (i'm her god-mother). we've shared laughter and tears. she fills me to the brim, and i start the year 2011 well, even with happy-sad tears having such good time together over the holidays.

to borrow jayme's naming with a resounding YES! as truth shared between us: we are soul friends. Anam Cara. she stirs my soul. sometimes i need to share with her life's stories first, because in sharing them they become more real, more felt, more true.

and so on one of my favorite evenings in her home while the dogs napped and the boys were engaged in their own space (i really don't remember what they were each doing), jayme and i sat together and created. oh, such delight for my soul.

for jayme, i made a little altar of friendship. it's a space that spoke of friendship as it brings life.
in honor of my soul friend and our relationship, i will be creating these original mixed media using watercolors, pen and ink, and other materials as a way to create in my happy-sad space. by creating, i am connecting the energy and life that wells within me and sharing it in another space. i become more centered as i connect our friendship and the act of creating. i am able to send her more love from within the centering of my soul & the work of my hands.

close your eyes or look at this image: who stirs your soul? who is "soul friend" in your life? take a deep breath and give thanks. now go and send some love their way. be blessed.

borrowed from jayme's blog post:

Anam Cara

(Gaelic: pronounced ah-num kah-ra)

"soul friend"

originally someone to whom you confessed, revealing the hidden intimacies of your life. With your Anam Cara, you could share your innermost self, your mind and your heart. This friendship was an act of recognition and belonging. When you had an “Anam Cara”, your friendship cut across all convention, morality and category. You were joined in an ancient and eternal way with the “friend of your soul”. When you are blessed with an “Anam Cara", the Irish believe, you have arrived at that most sacred place: home. This bond between friends is indissoluble: “This, I say, is what is broken by no chances, what no interval of time or space can sever or destroy, and what even death itself cannot part”.

~ from “Anam Cara…Wisdom from the Celtic World“, by John O’Donohue