Step one

We walk across life on paths created by things we love. Some people love so much, that their path is wide and safe, if they trip, it's over their own feet--they laugh a little and keep walking.

Some people don't love enough...or don't trust that what they love will hold their weight. Their paths have breaks and gaps, and to keep going they have to make huge leaps. Convincing themselves to leap can take a little while, so their progress is nervous and unpredictable, full of pauses and then beautiful moments of bravery. These people often don't notice the simple fact that when they jump, they always land safely on their next step.

We walk across life on paths created by things we love. I am picky in my stepping-stones. I build my path of moments where I witness complete and beautiful truth. I wait for these seconds, I live for these seconds. When everything else is gone, and I'm looking at a person who is using the only words they mean. Without anything else. When something is thrown. When arms are put over a head that shakes and shakes, I don't even know what I'm doing. When someone gets something they never, never thought they would get, and they look up and for one second, it's complete triumph, complete surprise. When someone says I can't, or it's over, or they're gone. I'm terrified. I'm trying, so hard. I'm sorry. I walk on gathered reminders that these moments happen. When the words are just simply... the only words there are. It's not dependable...doing it this way. I might never find another stepping-stone again. But I wait. I sit down at the end of my path, and I wait.

Because the things I love, more than anything else in the world, are the words that matter.