Tensile Strength
...Oh Yes and Happy Valentines

I looked at the picture below of Saskia and Ralf. And I wondered what it was that I was feeling - trying to find words that might fit my perception of these two exceptional beings. And then it emerged - "tensile strength" usually used to describe a measurement of elastic resistance within steel, to find some breaking point.

Why "these" words for Saskia and Ralf?

I suppose, like steel, we have all been through the "mill" of life to varying extents. And that we all- each of us- have our own story.

Ralf, I know is a Doctor- who must deal with the physical as well as psychic wounds of others.

As for Saskia, I'm not sure . I have heard wisps of this and that over the last three decades- but what strikes me, is the magic moment we danced at the Reunion. There was a loop in time that brought me back to high school days bringing out the teenager in me.

Just like in High School, we never did have time to chat - there was so much going on. But in that dance -that moment of connection there was unspoken understanding of the passage of time and how it was alright for two people to simply relax and enjoy one solitary moment together. It was all that mattered. Magic. And these magic moments were taking place all through the reunion.

Ralf, Jane and I did have a chance to talk and 'hang out' for a while at Anne Chrsitine's. I saw pictures of his beautiful family and home out in the interior of B.C. - Shangrila.

In both of these individuals, when I looked in their eyes I saw the past, their brothers, families in the 'heights' and the present -that which makes them who they are. -wearing their 'being'- their countenance, with grace and quiet strength, each in their own respective way- keeping so much within yet communicated in the shadow of a smile- an inflection -a glance.

We 'the others', if we are lucky, may catch it-if but just for a moment, out the corner of our eye and then it's gone.

Two fine souls - interior strength.