Judi Heartsong, I hope you don't mind...

...I wouldn't be the first to write about you.

 

I'm wiping my eyes because of an octopus.  AGAIN. (If you cried or got misty the first time, don't read it twice.)

Geez, JH. 

At least I can do that much.

When she talks about her family, there's nothing you can do.

Here is this stranger and friend, creating beauty in the world and moving us with her life.

I write to her sometimes.  Sometimes we IM. 

I rarely comment though I read every entry in her journal and in Virginia's journal, too, as they pop up, the instant they publsh, in my alerts.

There is a lot of good stuff out there in journal-land.  Judi, though, is not like anyone else. 

I don't even bother to compare myself.  We have only this in common: we are lesbians.  You might as well compare apples to porcupines. 

A few days ago I was out in the hot sun, rolling a cart to the outdoor bookdrop at the library when I got a sudden chill of delight: "Judi Heartsong calls me "friend."

It made me wish she lived closer.  We are about to get a mural in the children's section.  It is inspired by a large collection of stuffed animals that has been the gift, primarily of a single patron, who still brings critters we don't have yet. 

We have a pelican, a zebra, a red panda and dolphins and turtles and bears and penguins and kangaroos.   We have turtles, a lemur, an ape, an armadillo, a possum....  The collection sits on the tops of the shelves and children make a beeline across the library to play with their favorite one.

We are the envy of the other five libraries in the county system.  We often loan out our animals for storytimes.

My hope is that the artist who has been chosen to do the work can do the room justice.  It can't be easy as the animals represent all environments, from desert to jungle and undersea as well.

I wish, though, that the work was going to be that of my favorite artist, someone who can provide something of the real and something of a dream.

http://hometown.aol.com/__121b_qIJX4ZNfP8ffrgp/H8u/4Je2lO0Rbb1A0ZAYOYMuwoSK7evYKIzXZw==

http://hometown.aol.com/judithheartsong/myhomepage/  

http://hometown.aol.com/__121b_qIJX4ZNfP8ffrgp/H8u/4ML3ioN0hrUIVIaLXtUB7h4=