Just before joining the circle of Kindred Spirits at 9:00 am Texas time, I read Jude’s latest post with its ark-like house/boat.
The poignant strains of the Indigo Girls’ Wood Song filled my head, the words long ago committed to memory.
And I remembered.
In 1997 I had given two weeks notice to Colonial Williamsburg in order to accept a job as a middle school librarian.
To say it was a huge leap of faith would be an understatement. I was taking a 20% pay cut, leaving an 18-year career, a hard-earned title, and a newly-acquired corner office.
Each morning as I pointed the bow of my trusty Dodge Caravan into the rising sun, I queued up the Indigo Girls and cranked the volume. Singing at the top of my lungs, I played the Wood Song … over and over.
I had dared to trust my gut … the inner voice that led me to act … the fierce certainty that overcame my doubts about walking away from the security of the known.
The next twelve years were spent in a middle school, a high school, and an elementary school. They led to the Eastern Virginia Writing Project, through which I became an adjunct instructor at the College of William & Mary.
I never looked back.
If only it could be so easy now … to quit the chaos and dysfunction of this troubled world … to walk away, singing … and begin anew.
What is left to trust?
Simply this: love, family, community, truth, and hope … a righteous hope that goodness will ultimately prevail. And the realization that it has always been darkest before the dawn.
I'm Going to Texas (version 2.0) 
Trust .. can it be used for another word Faith??? I feel like they are kinda the same. When I left Hawaii at 18 to move to Milwaukee to be with Michael .. I trusted that he would always be there for me. I had faith that my love for him was real. We have had 50 really great years together .. was it Trust or Faith that gave me the courage to leave my family not to mention beautiful Hawaii. I’m thinking it was a lot of both and a lotta luck.
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You have written so beautifully here Tina; I am so very moved. 50 yrs of trusting in the two of you, 50 yrs of having faith in each other. What an inspiration you and Michael are and what a testament to the power of love.
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I guess I would say that faith is a belief in the benevolence of a greater being and trust is a belief in the goodness of others … and in those terms, your choice reflected a belief in both
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Thank you .. this is absolutely helpful! I can see they really are two different things and yet in my world they do go hand in hand.
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LA – yes when we look there are so many beautiful things that we have that we can trust and hold on to- trust and hope in challenging times. Love-peace-hope. B
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how we must work for peace, not passively wait for it to occur spontaneously
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(((Liz))) and the wood is so much older now, seasoned with love and time
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and definitely a lot creakier in the morning …
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Leaps of faith are Trust in action. Thanks for this rich backstory Liz. It takes courage and that gut instinct that says, go for it and you can do this…somehow, we still must dig into that instinct to trust that in the face of so much adversity, hatred and just plain evil from the powers that be, truth, compassion, caring, connection,love and Trust in each other, will stand…I simply have to believe this.
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action is what is needed now … but the dike is springing so many leaks that it’s hard to know where to start
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Wow your trust, faith, bravery…whatever is so impressive to me, mostly because it seems out of reach for me. It’s funny how music defines periods in our lives, inspires, lifts etc
xo
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the Wood Song was my anthem back then … when we moved to Texas, it was Walt Wilkins’ “Trains I Missed” that took its turn …
the soundtracks of our lives …
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Probably it is just in us, trust, just going…
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I looked up the word trust in m-w.com and particularly liked this definition:
“a reliance on truth”
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So truth then, turns out to be simply what we trust…
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I have nothing to add really, but what a delightful conversation
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Perhaps you’d like to join us … Thursdays at 2pm GMT … to sit for 5 minutes trusting time …
https://windthread.typepad.com/windthread/2022/06/my-entry-24.html
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Thank you 🙏🏻 I will be at work in my day job but will try to find 5 minutes to be there in spirit
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I too love the backstory and the courage it evidences. Trust in community and family seems more important than ever. Before doing my 10 am east coast sit, I thought about how I need to trust the future. Not just the breath, the continuing, but the future.
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I trust the young people …
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Sometimes we are faced with huge cliffs rather than a bump in the road. Taking the next step can be both daunting and exciting. It’s better to have tried than to always wonder. The Id in all of us is a curious thing. 😊
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we seem to be surrounded by huge cliffs these days …
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