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A Day That Filled Me · Living & Learning with Aundria McMillan Humphrey

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to Living & Learning with Aundria McMillan Humphrey.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is episode 42 and it's called A Day That Filled Me.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Some days leave you tired.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Some days leave you full.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes, if you're fortunate, you come home both, tired and full.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: That was my Friday yesterday.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: I spent the day in Leon with my friend Noe and a couple of other friends,
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: and I am still carrying the images The feelings, the sheer wonder of it.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: When I began writing down what I loved about our trip,
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: the first thing on my list wasn't an exhibit or a performance.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: It was spending the day with Noe.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Our easy connective energy, no drama, just flow.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: There is something so nourishing about being with someone whose company allows you
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: to settle into yourself.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: You can enjoy what's in front of you without having to manage the experience.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: The day can unfold and you can unfold with it.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what happened.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: We enjoyed a Oaxacan breakfast in the cutest little restaurant,
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: all things Oaxacan, colorful and delightful.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Even our breakfast became part of the adventure.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Then there was our earthing walk through the sculpture garden
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: at the University
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: of Guanajuato, that huge open plaza.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: But grass,
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: barefoot on the ground,
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: trees reaching for the sky,
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Leonora Carrington's towering sculpture, Tamborilera, sharing that expansive space.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: I loved being there.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Art, earth, trees, and us moving through it all.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: There were so many things asking for our attention,
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: and we had given ourselves a day to pay attention.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: That alone felt like a gift, particularly for me, who tend to work a lot.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: One particular exhibition moved me so deeply,
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Bottles for Tears, inaugurated by writer Jennifer Clement.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: It honors writers and journalists who have been persecuted,
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: exiled, imprisoned, or murdered for their use of words.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: People whose freedom to speak came at an unimaginable cost.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: As someone who writes and shares her thoughts with the world,
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: I could not pass through that experience lightly.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: I kept thinking about what it means to have a voice,
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: to use it,
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: to try to silence another person's voice,
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: and the importance of safeguarding the memory of those who refused
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: to surrender theirs.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: A day can hold delight and sorrow.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Beauty can invite us closer to something painful enough that we might otherwise turn away.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: This exhibition stayed with me.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then there was the sky.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, first of all, it was an exquisitely beautiful day.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: But here,
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: three artists performing high above us on flexible poles,
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: even now, I wish I could bring you directly into that moment.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine black costumes with swirling skirts against the bluest sky,
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: oceans of cumulus clouds shifting from white to dark gray,
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: music moving through a constellation of moods.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: At times, it seemed as though the clouds themselves were listening.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: And those performers,
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: their precise movements,
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: their coordination,
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: the extraordinary confidence, the poles bent, the artists moved with them.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then clear plastic became part of those energetic, whirling dances in the air.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Such an extraordinary experience using ordinary material Transformed
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: through movement and light into something mesmerizing,
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: magical, aesthetically beautiful.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: I watched, breathless.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: The daring, the confidence, the trust.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, I was witnessing practice skill.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot imagine the hours of preparation behind those movements.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: But what reached me sitting there Looking up was an exquisite demonstration of
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: the freedom of soaring human spirits.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I found myself thinking about trust.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: The trust involved in moving with something that bends high up in the air off the ground.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: The willingness to leave a familiar position.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing that the next movement requires your participation before you can arrive there.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: We encounter our own versions of that, don't we?
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking something we have held inside.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Trying something we don't yet know how to do.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Allowing ourselves to be seen.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Making room for an experience without knowing exactly what it will bring.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm certainly not planning to climb a flexible pole,
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: let alone do that kind of dance in the air.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Let me make that perfectly clear,
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: although I did think a minute about what it might be like to be up there.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to keep room and keep making room for wonder.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: I want to remain available To a day that moves me.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: To companionship that feels easy.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: To art that asks something of me.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: To beauty that sends my eyes upward and leaves me momentarily without words.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: That is part of ageless living for me.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Continuing to participate.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Letting the world interest me.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Giving myself opportunities to discover something I didn't know I needed.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: And there was one more thing.
• 8:26
  Ha!
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: I bought myself a great pair of walking boots.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: I hadn't planned to.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: I just saw them.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: I was walking by and I thought, wow,
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: those would be perfect for walking in San Miguel de Allende
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: on our cobblestone streets.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because apparently after a day of bare feet on the earth and my eyes in the sky,
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: I still needed something practical to bring home.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: And there is more walking to do.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: So much more to see.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps that's the invitation I want to leave with you today.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: What would fill you?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: What would fill you?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Not your calendar, but you.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: A little companionship?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: A change of scenery?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Something beautiful perhaps?
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Something that makes you stop and look again?
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: I came home with images I can hardly wait to share.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: New boots and gratitude for a day spent with a friend.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: A day that filled me to the brim.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: This has been Living & Learning with Aundria McMillan Humphrey.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: I know this one is a little long,
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: but I could not stop myself from sharing as much of that spectacular day with you
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: as possible.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening and I will be here again next week as usual on Monday
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: and I hope I will have you here with me.