Big Bootie... Big Bootie... Big Bootie

My right foot’s been in a boot for the past month. I’m getting claustrophobic in the heat and in the clumsiness of clonking around off center for so damn long. I haven’t been able to hike all this time, which, if you know me, you know that’s more painful than this foot issue. Friends have kept telling me to go for a swim but I’ve been shy to hit up a community center. Until now.
 
Today, for my first time in Portland, I went to a community center for a swim. A lap swim. Goggles and all.
 
Diving into the water I felt like a butterfly. I can flit and flutter anywhere I want and I fly. My foot and ankle liberated by the water and resistance. I swam and swam and swam. Freestyle, backstroke, sidestroke, breaststroke, repeat. Delicious. Delicious. Delicious.
 
But here’s what was most delicious. The wild and sweet variety of people I met and swam with! First, there was the Navy Seal. Yeah, that’s right. He asked me, ‘’what are you training for?’’ “Life,” I said, smiling. Then shared a bit about my injury and just needing to get in the water and move my body. He tried to become a Seal last year but had to quit due to a heart issue. This time he’s going for it. He was sweet. He was hot. He was strong. He was determined. Had a handshake like a Seal. You’d want that hand grasping yours in a rescue situation.
 
Then there was the very large and lovely retired nurse. I side-stroked with her for a few laps while we chatted. ‘’My friend says I’m broken,’’ she said casually. “What do you mean?’’ I responded. “Well, I’m really slow walking on land so she says I’m broken. But you know what? Last year I drove all the way to North Carolina and went to Savannah for the first time too!”
 
“Dang! You don’t sound broken to me! Maybe you’re fixed!”
 
She laughed and we swam, face-to-face for another lap before I took up the paddleboard and flapped around like a happy six year old in swim class. 
 
Portland is so segregated that I was skeptical about what a “community center” would look like. But there were actual, real, and diverse people there! It was the most diversity I’ve seen since the night my friends and I went dancing at an LGBTQ bar – the same night of the Orlando shooting.
 
I love people.

Don’t tell me your story if you don’t want me to love you. Don’t ask me my story if you don’t want to love me. When I share with you, I give you a little piece of my heart. And when you share with me, I hold sacred a piece of you. Your memory emblazons upon me and I remember. I remember the light and the shadows in the spaces of your story. There’re stories I’d like to forget. Bitter ones that hurt and close up my throat. But the richness of remembering some things, is remembering all things. And so I accept. I allow. I love. I remember. You.