Hello, life-lovers, you,

I'm coming to you from my new studio (bedroom) - or should I say, same studio (bedroom) but new decorations?  Some of you may have seen the results of my hard work posted to my Insta stories over the weekend, in which I declared that because I built and created a new shelf, it is now my child and it can do no wrong.
What if none of us, nor this life, can do no wrong? 

What if, no matter what happens, such as the collapse of my beautiful new shelf, or, gasp, a stain on my brand new (expensive) pillow, such an event cannot be wrong?  Trust me, if either one of those things happens, I will yell expletives at SOMEONE, even if I'm alone in an empty room. 

But, to quote Ani DiFranco, whose iconic album Little Plastic Castle turns 25 this year,

 I've got no illusions about you, Guess what?  I never did. When I said when I said I'll take it, I meant, I meant as is.  

Like so many of us, I have been on the other end of that song - the person who is not perfect, but who is loved, as is.  The gift of that grace always changes me, every time it's been bestowed on me, and that gift always deepens and expands the relationships I have with people who have provided such love.  

I'm realizing now that if I can provide that gift not just to a person, but also back to life - if I can provide my life, and my circumstances, with that grace, of loving it as is - of course my relationship to my life and my circumstances will change as well.  We magically find ourselves on this rock hurdling in space, around a ball of fire, and we have no illusions about what this life might bring.  And, armed with that knowledge, we can choose to be here - to take it - as is.  

Always, your fellow rock surfer,
XIMXIA

THANKS FOR READING!