I know we talked about this on Tulinsuojat, but I’ve been thinking a lot about “Xenia” and what it means.
On the course of our journey, almost the first person we met after we were taken actually, we met someone. He has a name given to him by someone else, but when we met him he simply was “A Stranger.”
I have been thinking of myself as a home. In Almachadta, many homes are built around an open, central courtyard with a shallow pool that gathers rainfall. Most of the rooms face this courtyard with open doors. There are storms in Almachadta, but not many. And I’ve been thinking … I have not had a place that was my home for a long, long time. And so I have been thinking about this home, when I was a child, and hospitality, and what it means to invite someone in, to build a room in the home of my heart for everyone I meet on this journey.
And so. That imagine in mind, I went out into the void and invited him in to my home. The Stranger, who I offered hospitality, who I was willing to love.
He is something wholly unfamiliar and just intimately familiar as well. He loves, and he fears that his love will destroy. He is the wind, and the wind fills sails and drives ships to wreck. And I am not sure if I accomplished anything at all, but I invited him in, and I know him better now. I listen for him on the wind.
You did that. The framework you gave me, the imagery of it—it’s nothing yet, but I think someday I’ll be able to build something magnificent. I just wanted to thank you.
And, yes, in this house that is my heart, this home that is myself, you’re there as well. You sit at the doorway, greeting.
I hope this finds you well, Ksenija. Thank you.