Every part of you, every part of me. Everything we do, everything we dream. Every blessed day, every sacred night, ever in my heart, ever in my sight. ~written by K. Day 2010
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I lead a charmed life, I know. Many people have told me this, but "if they only knew the half of it"... I am only 33 years old and so far, I've: been on countless adventures, traveled to many places, lived on two islands, tasted exotic foods, met many beautiful strangers who became friends, fell in love with several cultures which are not my own, gotten lost and found myself, was saved, fallen in love more than once, built a family, painted walls, written nationally, seen my face high up on posters in shopping centers and in magazines, flown a plane, cheated death, survived suicide (attempts), danced barefoot to music my parents hated, toured the country with bands and my camera, been homeless, lived in a penthouse, lived on the side of a volcano, sang my own original music to live audiences, worked alongside my friends and amazing artists, built things, dismantled things, found myself, walked in my purpose, had a child, became a child, and I fall in love again every single day. ...we are all the author of our own story. And we have the power and freedom of choice to make it a good one. It starts with getting up and walking out your front door. The rest will come to you---it always does. Being present. Moony taught me that. For me, ten days went by in a bubble that felt much longer. I was given the honor of mothering a sweet angel who came disguised in black fur and for what it's worth, even in it's short duration, doing so has impacted me more deeply than I could have imagined. The 14 year old rushes through the door past midnight on a school night, out of breath to explain to me how she'd rescued this tiny waif of a few week old kitten whom (she insisted) was already named Moony Midnight Gamez, needed a bath and some food, thank you and please. Apparently she'd rescued the kitten from a neighborhood dog who'd already begun to bite at her. After examining the little one closely, I could tell she was fragile and this rescue could easily turn into grief. But the moment that Moony Midnight Gamez locked eyes with me, shaking and wet from a warm bath, something inside me softened. I sort of changed right there, I think. I just didn't know it yet. As we noticed her health declining a bit, we naturally did everything we could, spent whatever needed to be spent. But these things are not up to us or she would have lived a long beautiful life here in the garden with our family...but she didn't. She had ten days. So, for ten days, one kitten met 11 people, was kissed and swaddled and sung to and loved on as much as a human child by all their relatives, visited 5 places and went on 7 car rides, mapped out an entire garden, conquered 3 insects and ate one beetle, basked in the sun like a California beach bunny, tasted apples, climbed to the highest tops of every chair in the house, learned everyone's name, gave endless purrs and nuzzles, and was loved as much as a child. Sometimes grief is part of the lesson. The hurt we feel is much bigger than ten days-worth. I will say picking ourselves up by our boot straps is never fun. (But that my big girl boots are on at all means something, right?) Suffering is just part of the story. And when you go back and read it again, you'll find it makes for the richest segments. Never deny the "pulp". If blessings are like "cash", then the lessons which come from our misery are like "investments"...and we choose how much they "pay off" for us in the end. By the end of Moony's chapter, she has honored us with her innocent, precious and immeasurably grateful presence. That is enough. We love her, and that will never be a past-tense ideal for us. And we'll never stop rescuing creatures in need, even if we do need a little time to mend. |
AuthorPresently my works are published here on my official website The Alchemist and the Butterfly and have been printed and published a few times in anthologies and magazines, two of which can be found in The Library of Congress (The earliest of which from when I was 14). Just a few of my most notable quotes..."Show me where grows the wildest parts of you. It's there I will plant my message."
~ K. Day, 2016 "And just like that, she decided to make each scar count, every shortcoming an unplanned miracle, every broken seam a window... And in an instant she was changed forever." ~K. Day, 2017 "When your whole world is upside down, just learn to walk on your hands. At least your feet are in the clouds. After all, isn't that as good as flying?" ~K. Day, 2017 "May the ripples of my good deeds be such that those who know my name will see me dancing on the edge of their thoughts, even long after my body is gone." ~K. Day, 2015 "He who leaves himself behind wears a different sort of crown." ~K. Day, 2017 "Artists tend to dig our own graves with our tongues... we passionately lack the ability to hold them when we see truth." ~K. Day, 2014 "People underestimate the POWER of transparency, the triumph of exposure, the honor in openness." ~K. Day, 2015 "We birth our ideas, nurture and then send them out into the world. Very much so are our works our children, we who are the artists and the thinkers and the scientists... there is an innate understanding that once we release them, they no longer belong to us. We have to be willing to let them go. And if we prepared them well, surely what comes back to us will sound like praises and feels not so dissimilar from the way a parent feels, swollen with pride for their children." ~K. Day, 2015 "The greatest story ever told is us. It's all of us. Never stop telling it." ~K. Day, 2014 "My heroes don't wear capes; it would just get in the way of their wings." ~Kat Day, 2013 "Growing up, I was the little girl with unicorns on my bed and skeletons in my closet." ~K. Day, 2014 "I was 19 and I already knew who I was." ~K. Day, 2011 "Art's voice hasn't gotten stronger...but I think more people are listening. And that's the perfect time to show them a mirror." ~K. Day, 2015 "Don't lean against mirrors. You might fall in. Always avoid cracks in the ground. Don't linger in doorways or walk under ladders. And never wear crosses unless you're sure a vampire is stalking you." ~K. Day, 2015 {satirical excerpt from a work in progress} "I'd sooner chase a thousand adventures with you than admit to being an adult for one hour on a good day. You slay the dragons - I'll do the housework. It's a good trade." ~K. Day, 2012 "If we wear our rain boots when we wade through our dreams, how will we ever forget we have feet? How will we remember we can fly? Caution is over-rated." ~K. Day, 2015 "Sometimes you can see yourself falling a split second before it all comes crashing down around your ankles...and sometimes, you don't want to stop falling." ~K. Day, 1999 "The woman is a ferocious beast. She shines so bright it hurts to look too close. Yet her bones are like glass, her heart light as air. Her words are like roots that meander through the neglected places of the mind and her tongue is only sharp when their pourage is too cold." ~K. Day, 2015 "We'll ultimately discover that we are little more than figments of our own imaginations." ~K. Day, 2015 "When we have all forgotten how to be human, we should ask the animals. They have always been best at reminding us who we really are." ~K. Day "Maybe we should wear our hearts on strings so we don't get our boots wet... No? It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense to tiptoe around love either. Real love is ugly beautiful messy. We have to learn to appreciate the mess." ~K. Day, 2015 "For all that is a part of me, for all of which I am comprised, I am grateful and hope to honor that through my gentleness toward myself and the world around me." ~K. Day, 2015 "I'm not afraid to die over the truth. I'm afraid to live in a lie." ~K. Day, 2013 "And they took from him his golden crown which shined so bright it taunted the darkness and shadowy things. They covered it with dung and sticks and placed it back upon his head saying, 'See what has been done here...we have saved you, the darkness will forget you.' But then so did all the world. Woe to the day that evil determined no bird shall keep for himself his own gilded wings." ~K. Day, 2015 "Remember, there is always light in dark places. So long as people draw breath, they will search for their truest selves, which is love." ~K. Day, 2015 "Never stop shining, even through times of tears and bitter words. For it is often when we are our most vulnerable that we are also at our most beautiful. And what an honor for all of those who are allowed to witness you rise, again and again. The breath of love propel your life always forward, the heart of a mother and a father beat ever steady in your chest, and may your memory long surpass your body through the mouths of those who knew you." ~ K. Day, 2015 "I will confound them. I will rattle their gilded cages and shake their very foundations. I will make myself so present the world will never be the same again." ~K. Day, 2015 "Expectation... I learned it can steal one's joy. This applies just as much to life as to tending the land. We understand that the seed is designed to grow and what elements should facilitate for that growth. But nature is beautifully imperfect and it's taught me that each seed has it's own internal clock, which differs even from its brother's. The plants are not so unlike us. Expectations kill everything. We must observe and participate in a constant state of childlike wonderment if we wish to know the true potential of nature." ~K. Day, 2016 "And then she told them all they had to do all along was believe in themselves. It was the only way." ~K. Day, 2016 Archives
July 2020
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