This Is Me

nurture

Apr 24

Written By Carmella Rayone

You know those words I've said about how images can describe you? About how you might have a hard time picking the right words that say who you are because maybe you've not thought about it enough, or maybe you've thought about it so much that you feel stuck, or maybe you've no idea who you really are, so how in the world could there be any way to describe that? Maybe you like this thing over here because someone you admire likes it, so you buy it, you wear it, you eat it, you live in it, you drive it, you try to make it you, but maybe it's not and the fulfillment you thought you were going to find was never found and now where do you go from here?

There is you. There is you that is no one else. You that is profound, well intended, and exquisite. How could we assume that something so thin-fickle as words alone could be landed right enough to be descriptive of that? Ah, but when words escape, there are images. Thankfully, our hearts can recognize what our minds cannot.

The images you see here? They are me. Descriptors. The very heart and soul of who I am. I was asked recently to gather these,* to put words to them if I could, to convey by sight the person in this skin. So I collected, I pinned, I curated. Then, I stepped back to see. Who was I?

Across the board, it was as if there were two of me. One refined and elegant; one earthy and robust. A paradox? A malfunction? A mix-up? A concern, certainly. Right? (Look again. Do you see it?)

But then, the answer that so easily put my mind at rest and settled the prickly questions came unexpectedly and at just the right time - a quote from none other than Ina Garten in response to a question asked of her, "What does Barefoot Contessa mean?"

Her reply?

"It was the original name of my specialty food store after a movie with Ava Gardner and Humphrey Bogart. But for me, it means being both elegant and earthy..."

This is me. Through and through, to my very core; the profound symbiosos of the far reaches of who I am. Elegant and earthy.

*Just a sampling here; there are so many more.