When I run into Xia she is a ball of excited energy, she lets out a loving squeal of my name and throws her arms wide to corral all of me into a warm hug.
Our embraces always lingers all but forgetting the world that moves around us while appreciating the shared world that breathes between us.
After the excited hellos simmer, while still holding that wide welcoming smile, with the sincerity in her eyes asks
“how is your spirit.”
Although 10 years my junior her maturity and life experiences has afforded her a calming voice with a beautiful motherly warmth. There is a piercing sincerity in her eyes she looks to latch on and teather into my eyes, it creates a different line of communication.
how is my spirit?
Her apparent vested interest requires more than a throw away response. Xia opens herself to the intimate truths. How is my spirit? In one sentence I feel cared for, valued, pampered, safe, important. The excited hellos and hugs are wonderful but her inquiry presses its ear directly against my warmth to hear the thumps firsthand.
How is my spirit?
My response is always delivered with an unintentional pause. I’m not sure if that pause is shocked by the weight of the question, if I’m deeply touched by her general concern for me, or if my entire being takes a moment to complete a full wellness check to be able to report back with an honest unknown truth.
Xia’s question pushes me to question my own wellbeing and If I'm not well this is the opportunity to vent, to pour myself into an awaiting hungry ear, to be seen. She is a safe space.
How is my spirit? I am well in fact
great
but now
somehow
better Thank you Xia
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