The practice is inspired by Naomi Shihab Nye and her notion that words are like oars. Dip them in the water. Explore with them. Feel how they touch and bump up against one another. Let them take us further down the stream.

Delicious

I said this word this morning not because I had put something in my mouth and it was creamy or salty or sweet or crunchy or bitter or savory or any other word that might be related to food I am chewing, licking or nibbling or otherwise consuming. No, I said this word this morning to describe the moment between two people when there is the friction of difference. We hadn’t felt it before. Everything was easy and light and low fat. Maybe a little bit bland. And then comes this sweet moment when the differences of simply being two people in entirely separate skins creates friction, tension, dis-ease…and I have to decide: Will I let you in a little closer? Will I allow you to see a deeper part of me? Will I be more honest with you? Will I shift our conversation away from weather or sports to the deeper waters of feelings and miscommunications and big ideas and wanting, wanting, wanting. I love this moment. If I speak up now, if I say something that’s never been said between us before, we will step into unmapped area where we might become the best of travelling companions. Or we might not. I hold the moment. I savor it. This delicious moment before we become more complex.