REPOSTED FROM JULY 2012
We were driving along a road in Western Massachusetts on Sunday when she handed me a word.
“The first time you do something is so special,” she told me me, “the Japanese have a separate word for it…hajimete.”
Hajimete: for the first time.
I love that this word was part of Sunday’s conversation, because Sunday’s conversation was the first time she and I have ever spoken to each other, face to face.
She is the wise and worldly Judith Bruder, author of two wonderful blogs: A View from the Woods and Touch2Touch. We have been sharing words with each other since December 2010, as readers and writers, thinkers and travelers. But Sunday was our first opportunity to meet and continue the conversation in person.
And that we did, from the first open-the-door moment into a sunny, summer afternoon for lunch, a walk in the park, and a Sunday drive past inspiring views.
As the sentences and sidebars unfolded before us in real time, it felt as if we had been doing this forever — sharing our stories, finding similar paths, learning new things from each other. There was a sweet and marked familiarity to the day.
That is the beauty of word-sharing — whether it’s these blog posts or emails, letters or poems, prose or lyrics. Word-sharing does not require physical presence because it comes from the heart. What you share — what we share — connects our spirits wherever and in whatever form we happen to be.
That Judith and I found the opportunity to be live and in-person was a true gift — and a connection I hope will continue here and there.
[ Click here to read more about our visit on Judith’s blog Touch2Touch. ]
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Photo courtesy of Judith’s husband, Frank Bruder, with whom additional, delightful words were shared.
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