Thursday, May 1, 2008

I Grieve

Have you ever felt so confused that it seems you just aren't sure which way is up?

I am a former SCUBA diver (haven't been in more than a decade but I have some pretty cool shots, I think) and I remember when I was learning how to dive I was told if I ever get disoriented, watch the directions of the bubbles escaping my mask and they will point me to the way home. That lesson and the related analogies that I have used over the years has served me well. Until now.

I feel very off kilter. I can't for the life of me, find the bubbles to show me the way to the surface. And until I can do that, I have a fear of drowning, suffocating for lack of oxygen right here where I'm at... which is not a great place by any means.

I heard a great line in one of my favourite songs the other day... The song is "I Grieve" by Peter Gabriel and I have always loved it for its haunting beauty and honesty of message. Give it a listen some day.

But at the very end of the song is a line, a line that until this week I had missed (yet again, that funny thing karma gives you messages when you need to hear them I guess)... Peter sings:

"Did I dream this belief or did I believe this dream?"

That's where I'm at right now. I am thinking the things that I had convinced myself were true were really just pretty pictures I had painted for myself to accept what I wasn't ready to face. That the reality I have spent ages wanting is really just a figment of my imagination.

So here I am trying to face this reality that I have spent ages convincing myself didn't exist. It's a scary thing. A lonely thing.

But I will find relief. I grieve.

2 comments:

Marc said...

Random people who cross your path become the new bubbles. They might not point the way home but will point you down a path less lonely.

Hug,
Marc

Sally O'Grady said...

As always, Marc you have made me feel better. Thank you for the sage words and especially for the hug.

Hugs back,
Sally