Comments on: Close Calls

By: Maria Theresa Maggi

Maria Theresa Maggi — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 06:29:19 +0000

Thank you, Lee, for appreciating both the literal and the metaphorical implications in my post. It especially touched my heart to read how you appreciate being brought back to nature through my writing. It makes me so happy to know I am doing that for you at a time when you are very busy inside a lot of the time. In fact, it’s a lovely gift that meantthe world to me when I read it tonight. xo

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 01 Dec 2016 01:38:37 +0000

Hi Maria, what a wonderful post, as always. The shock and vulnerability that results from a wave literally pulling the sand out from beneath your feet serves as a metaphor for so many things in life, not the least of which was the election.

On a separate note, I so appreciate being brought back to nature through your writing–I spend so much time indoors right now during internship, and there is so precious little light left when I finally do get out, that I treasure your posts and reflections on the natural world more than ever. 🙂

By: Maria Theresa Maggi

Maria Theresa Maggi — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 05:23:03 +0000

Dear Kiwi Fan, thank you for these wonderful comments. I am so sorry you had to experience an earthquake like that so recently. I also read about the one in Japan today. I used to live in California and have been through a few myself, but luckily not any where I or anyone I knew was seriously hurt. It’s a scary and powerful experience. Living where you live I know you must indeed understand what I tried to describe in my post. I am so grateful for your readership over time and all your lovely feedback. (more silver threads!) I hope your community recovers from the quake without too much heartache and loss, and that rebuilding and repairing is doable and goes smoothly. Blessings back to you and yours!! xo

By: Kiwi Fan

Kiwi Fan — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 04:30:04 +0000

P.S. I love that photo of you, Romeo and Cotton and your painting, too. Blessings to you all X

By: Kiwi Fan

Kiwi Fan — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 04:25:34 +0000

Dear Maria, I'm having a quiet spell catching up on some of your beautiful writings and I was moved to read of your recent experience with the mighty northern Pacific Ocean. I have meant to comment more often on your inspiring words, especially since you moved to your place by the sea, as I now feel closer to you. We live in the South Pacific and are never more than 2 hours from the ocean, and I love that connection with openness. But, yes, that ocean is a force to be respected. I really felt for you with your 'turn' in the sea and it made me consider our 'close call' just a week ago. We experienced a 7.8 earthquake on the east coast of our South Island but here in the capital it was the worst quake I have ever felt. While, luckily, it struck just after midnight and not during the working day, many evacuated onto higher ground because of the tsunami threat. We are only 3 short blocks from the beach in the harbour, so a tidal wave storming up towards us is a scary thought. As a child living high above the harbour and with an earthquake engineer as a father I used to imagine terrifying scenarios! Now I think how lucky I was to have a father who spent his life making buildings safer. While we had but 2 deaths several buildings might need to be demolished. And this morning another earthquake in Japan caused more tsunami threats. After their last Fukushima tsunami disaster the country must feel so vulnerable to the forces of the sea. An early alert from my son, a volcanologist, who has just moved close to Tokyo for work, brought this feeling of dread to the surface again. Back to your wonderful 'life stories', I often breathe in wonder at how you draw together all the different threads in your writing. I have been enjoying them for over 4 years! Congratulations on writing your blog all this time. I now 'see' you and your gentle hounds walking regularly along your northern Pacific coast and I am thrilled that you are enjoying all the experiences the ocean offers. But please take care! Greetings from the 'shaky isles' in the South Pacific xx

By: Maria Theresa Maggi

Maria Theresa Maggi — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 01:30:34 +0000

Dear Veronica, Thank you so much! I can’t tell you how much these kind words mean to me. I am especially trying to give a little much needed hope and it’s such a gift when it comes from also trying to tell the truth. Here’s to sharp eyes on the waterline for both of us. xoxo

By: Veronica

Veronica — Mon, 21 Nov 2016 23:46:02 +0000

I’ve had a couple scary encounters with the ocean, as well – I’m very glad you were ok! It definitely is something you always have to keep a sharp eye on, especially this coast with the crazy undercurrents. This post is quite beautiful – as is your drawing of Cotton (and the picture of the 3 of you!). Regardless of your difficulty in closing out this writing, I think you ended it wonderfully, and with hope, which is much needed right now. xoxo

By: Maria Theresa Maggi

Maria Theresa Maggi — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 05:01:58 +0000

Dear Gena, thank you so much for this beautiful comment. I am so happy experienced my weaving of threads in this post as successful. And yes, that Leonard Cohen quote is so resonant and I’m touched to know it’s been an instrumental one in your life. I can relate to your agoraphobia–when I first moved to the Palouse, once I got out of Moscow and into the hills, the expanse of them against the immense sky made me feel a bit like that. I would breathe a sigh of deep relief to be back in town and “protected” by the trees. But I really came to love the open space. “Recovery from perfectionism”–!!!–now that’s a work in progress for me, too, and I bet a lot of us. I love how you put that!! xoxo

By: Gena

Gena — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 00:03:56 +0000

What a beautiful post, Maria, and what a feat of weaving threads together. I recently sat down with a friend who grew up in New Jersey, and she was saying to me that one thing you learn when you grow up right on the water is that the ocean is something to be treated with solemn respect. Precisely because it is so strong.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this to you, but I’m very agoraphobic (possibly the result of having spent most of my time surrounded by tall buildings, or tall trees). I feel simultaneously awe-inspired and also very unsettled on shorelines and by the ocean; I love it, but it frightens me too, because of its openness and its expanse.

It’s interesting to me that you mentioned that wonderful Cohen quote in the context of answering calls. I loved that quote when I was in anorexia recovery (and I still love it in my current “recovery” from perfectionism!), because it invites me to stop fretting about how perfect things are and get down to work. The work of life, the work of love, the work of writing. The quote reminds me that what we might call imperfection is the stuff of life, so there’s no avoiding it without sitting life out. To realize this is to shake oneself free of paralysis, to move.

So, I love the way you’ve united themes of movement, migration, and Cohen’s words. Thank you.

XOXO

By: Maria Theresa Maggi

Maria Theresa Maggi — Thu, 17 Nov 2016 21:54:58 +0000

Greetings back, Laurel! Thank you so much for these kind words. You made my afternoon!