Back to the Future

Today, our public school teachers are being vaccinated. After a year at home, Max is returning to class at his local high school. Anke in her 80s is getting her hair done. Melissa travels safely to Rwanda. Lisa looks out at trays and trays prepared each morning at a makeshift drive-by station and readies to deliver 'hope in a syringe.' 

This is the news of my week. Light peeking in. Uncertainty. Hope, nonetheless.  Everyone seems to be wondering how to move forward. One thing agreed by all: whatever is ahead is not the same as what we left behind us. 

I think of that as I look at this creation by the women of Sefrou.  We've worked with the Cherry buttons cooperative for 6 years crafting Moroccan jackets you love.  And now, we have designed another. The same fit, the classic buttons and elegant shape. But different. Very different.

This is the future, I am thinking.  We take with us the things we love - the friends, work, habits. The food we eat, the body we inhabit - all the same.  But then, because of the profound experience of this year, they look and feel different. Familiar, but new.  

Frankly, I curious to watch this future unfold and learn who we are on the other side of this crucible.  Our persons, the same, but refined. Distilled. Somehow more of ourselves than ever before, having been cooked in our juices for a year. Perhaps more daring.  Eager to live. Somehow, I want to believe, better than before.  

Just like this jacket.  

Wear it with brio and joy.
Susan Hull Walker