{"id":709,"date":"2016-06-01T18:10:59","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T22:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/?p=709"},"modified":"2016-06-01T18:10:59","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T22:10:59","slug":"a-soleful-story-from-a-soul-brother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/?p=709","title":{"rendered":"A soleful story from a soul brother"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days ago, I was washing windows barefoot on our deck.\u00a0 My feet were hot, and I remembered a story that Evan had shared with us at the Memorial Service at Rowe, earlier this year.\u00a0 Evan was one of Maya\u2019s counselors.\u00a0 Their connection went very deep; they really \u201csaw\u201d one another.\u00a0 I asked Evan if he\u2019d kindly share the story in writing, so that I could post it here for you to read.\u00a0 I\u2019m so glad that he did.\u00a0 Thank you Evan!\u00a0 And much gratitude for your role in Maya\u2019s life.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"evan<\/a><\/p>\n

She hated wearing shoes; that\u2019s the first thing that I should say. Being barefoot always seemed worth it, despite the mud, sticks, and rocks. She loved the freedom of it all. Getting rid of her shoes was Maya\u2019s small way of taking back some freedom, and wriggling away from the rules that 12-year-olds deal with every day. But again, Rowe\u2019s trails and hills were not too easy to walk on, and Maya could get a bruise or a cut if she wasn\u2019t careful. Gazing ahead as she moved from place to place, Maya kept her shoulder blades pulled back, her arms fully extended downwards and resting behind her torso, and her fingers angled upright. Thinking back on it now, I wonder how much of that style of walk came from being barefoot, and how much of it was just her personality. In the same way that Maya always calculated her actions, she calculated her steps; it was a peculiar and deliberate look, and I\u2019ve never seen anyone move like that before.<\/p>\n

After about two weeks of the usual no-shoes challenges, Maya\u2019s feet were faced with an entirely new foe \u2014 asphalt. It was time for everyone to head over to Pelham Lake, an all-camp field trip. It\u2019s about a 20-minute walk by road, and all of us counselors were strongly <\/em>suggesting to campers that they bring shoes. Sandals, flip flops, anything. The road there could actually get really, really hot. Maya and I had gotten close by this point in the session, and I knew I was the only shot at keeping her feet off the road. I tried, I definitely tried. But what was I to do? She somehow convinced me everything would be okay, and the two of us joined the rest of camp on the march to Pelham.<\/p>\n

\"evan<\/a><\/p>\n

Two by two, we all went on our way, with different pairs of people holding conversations at drastically different levels of maturity. As Maya walked on the road, and I walked on the grass next to the road (she insisted), we discussed the drama from that session. Even though Maya was one of the youngest at 12, she knew exactly what was going on. She had a read on just about everyone, and was quick to break down conflicts into the finer points that we, the staff, had completely whiffed on. And yet, Maya seemed unwavered by it all. With one breath she theorized on heartbreak and tension, and with the next she poked fun at me and giggled. It was Maya\u2019s collected demeanor at its finest. But this demeanor would only last so long on the asphalt. After a while, I started to notice something was up with Maya\u2019s step; it was even more peculiar than usual. I asked her what was wrong, to no response. But I knew what was going on, there was no way she could keep it up. \u201cIt\u2019s too hot, isn\u2019t it?\u201d Finally, she answered yes, and giggled. At that point it hit me. \u201cAre you doing this just to spite me?\u201d More giggles. She had walked 15 minutes on hot, hot asphalt just to mock me and showcase her will. Of course.<\/p>\n

This is a memory that I think back on as very representative of Maya\u2019s determination, though only displaying one sliver of who she was as a complete person. Obviously there\u2019ll never be one story that does her justice, but I\u2019m lucky to have this one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days ago, I was washing windows barefoot on our deck.\u00a0 My feet were hot, and I remembered a story that Evan had shared with us at the Memorial Service at Rowe, earlier this year.\u00a0 Evan was one of Maya\u2019s counselors.\u00a0 Their connection went very deep; they really \u201csaw\u201d one another.\u00a0 I asked Evan…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ripples-pearls-from-others"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p720L0-br","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=709"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":714,"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709\/revisions\/714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mayasgifts.elisegold.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}