You Know That Feeling When You're In A Space And You See Someone Visibly Queer Like You And You Just

You know that feeling when you're in a space and you see someone visibly queer like you and you just feel joy and peace and safety, just seeing someone like you out in public?

I was walking out of the pharmacy today and passed by an elderly couple walking in arm in arm. The man was wearing a kippah.

And the second I saw this visibly Jewish couple, I just immediately smiled the brightest smile I've felt all week. An immediate surge of joy and peace.

And something must have registered with them too, seeing a man like me, disheveled and drenched from rain and clearly having a day, suddenly light up at their sight, because they smiled right back.

We exchanged our "hello's" and "have a good day's" and I'm still thinking about them.

About how they must have been in their eighties. Maybe not Holocaust survivors themselves, but so close in time that they would remember almost the entirety of Jewish history from then up till now. And how brave it is to be openly Jewish these days. And they're in their eighties and clearly in love and openly Jewish and so alive.

I love that.

The rabbi who's teaching my Intro to Judaism class told us (while talking about the maror) that bitterness is necessary for transformative change and freedom and I've been thinking about that for an entire week

1925 Dahlias table lamp by Charles Schneider. From My Vintage Dreams, FB.

Hey, don't cry. A single thread in a tapestry, though its color brightly shines, can never see its purpose in the pattern of the grand design, ok?

Apothecary bottles and jars from Rijksmuseum Boerhaave.