Her

by Jodie Aguilar (Cayman Islands)

I didn't expect to find USA

Her, skin as smooth as the silk road, eyes that tells you the stories of every soul she’s met, hair that slips between your fingertips and tears that disappear with time. I traveled from my home in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands to find ‘her’. In my dreams she danced with every nation, she spoke for every voice, clothed in every color, stood for the earth and without fear, rejoiced. No longer dreams, I saw her with my eyes open, she told me of her travels to every country and how she became one with each hand she touched and each culture she engulfed herself in. Hesitation was a myth and all she ever did was give love, peace, kindness and gracefulness. I sat on the dock, listening to the sounds of life around me and I saw ‘her’ in Venice Beach, California, no one knew of ‘her’ in that moment and there she was laying on the sand as the sun began to set upon her earthly tones, barely clothed she looked upon the mountains from afar and for the first time I saw ‘her’ smile; that is when she told me her story. “Born into fear and beauty I grew among the two, the sea was my home, the four walls around me blocked my infinite point of view, I’d escape from those around me, who seemed too lost to understand, that on this island where i was made, the trees of life was my motherland. I heard the voices of many, i felt their hurt and pain, beyond the midnight breeze, sang those before me of hope again. Acknowledging the fear that once made my every step, under the stars I took my last breath, a breath that would mark the day I left my past behind and to be or not to be was a decision I already made upon the hands of time.” We walked on the streets of Venice, hearing and seeing countless faces, wondering what their legacy was, knowing that we would see them again. The lights created a sense of security, the different aromas that came from the foods told the story of the ancestors who first made it. Only the moon was dancing at this time and she took me to her home, there I met dancers who were in tune with every sound, stunt actors who believed in the art of impact, musicians whose voices were in tune with the universe and heart and a monk, who sat in a single position for most of the day in silence and peace, light and glory surrounded him, forgetting never the words he told me. The house owner, whose kids were actors, was a free soul, she spoke of how man made reality was only ever man made and that there were no limits to what we could do. You see as all over the place as this story my seem, it all aligned with the strings that will soon show the design of my dream, becoming realer at the seams. I will never forget ‘her’ because she is me and i am ‘Her’. The stars are always within me, the different faces that i see become my story, their hands become my print on the earth and Venice, oh Venice was where my heart pumped its juices of wonder and impact, where I will once again walk upon as the lights stay still filling the paved roads. Where a dreamer can be a doer, and a doer can always dream, where every food speaks in tongues and the flowers don’t only bloom in June. So when I came back home, the air was fresher, the sea was awaiting me and the breeze with a never ending hello, the sand was warm, the trees, as above, so below, the sounds of silence intertwined with the music of life, oh i have never felt so alive. To bloom where I am planted, the art of truly being, wether it be an actor or a monk, a musician or a dancer, the things that keep me in tune with life, the universe, the trees and the birds, the secret of life, i am forever her.