Welcome to the Garden Weaving by Tabita Bitah.
My desire is to sit way up high and look across the textural landscape created by deeply shadowed canyons and randomly stacked monuments and mesas overlaid with the hint of sage and cedar. Nature offers a unequaled palate of soft colors that accentuate this disparate land. Settling in and allowing my mind to wander, with only the horizon of my imagination as a boundary, is sublimely delightful and inspiring.
For me, the key is silence; the lack of man-made noise. I desire only the sounds created by nature; the wind, the rain, the tumbling water, the creak of a tree in the breeze, the call of a solitary bird or the hushed tones of an unidentified wild thing moving about. Without silence and natural beauty to stimulate my imagination, it is difficult for me to find my focus or maintain clarity of thought for more than an instant. My goal is to circumvent certain ideas and explore them in their comprehensible entirety.
Simple, yet complex; my thoughts are about relationships, for relationships always seem tenuous in the beginning. Time, patience, compassion and the search for understanding, however, allow us to develop and solidify our connections. We must discover laughter with our family, friends and loved ones; share their joy, their disturbances and distresses and even go so far as to open our hearts. What makes us human is an ability to love another and absorb their passion and pain as well as their bliss and tragedy.
With a spouse it is the little things that grow into the most meaningful memories. These occurrences that bind us together come from open and honest communication; sharing a look; recognizing a thought or emotion at the same moment; connecting at a higher, magnificently personal, level. With a child they often grow out of a desire to motivate, activate and empower them with our own personal, hard-won knowledge, experience and understanding. We must educate, uplift and then simply trust in their innate abilities.
With family we need endurance, familiarity, duty and more. Gratitude, comfort and a deep abiding knowledge of unconditional support and connectivity is required. We are bonded by blood and effected by affection. The relationship between a mother and her child is, most often, simply amazing. It seems to me that there is no more pure or unconditional earthly affection than that of a mother for her child. The proper meaning of life comes into clear and profound focus when mother and child connect for the first time. At that moment, we witness a sense of elemental wholeness; the basic essence of love and the purest form of that message is in this relationship.
With friends it is more carefree. I once read a distressed board and paper placard in a touristy gift shop. It boldly stated, "A friend is not a feller who thinks everything is grand. A friend is one who knows your faults and doesn't give a damn!" That is a tacky yet profound proclamation indeed. It is a statement directed at the personal, yet impersonal "friendly relationship". Unlikely friendships can be even more satisfying, valuable and mentally stimulating. Those one would think will never work but somehow do are often the most rewarding. You are sorely missed "Fine Art", but your thoughts and inspiration remain here with me as I sit and contemplate in silent wonder.
I hope and pray that you find yourself an aesthetically pleasing upper realm to ponder life and relationships in peace and solitude. There is nothing more rewarding between parents and children, friends and lovers and, if you are extremely fortunate or faithful, man and deity. Feeling and touching the other in an almost unimaginable manner, taking an unseen hand and stepping into the silent, prophetic light; now that is sublime.
With Warm Regards,
Barry, Steve and the Team.
Copyright 2009 Twin Rocks Trading Post
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