READ + VIEW THE ESSENCE MAGAZINE
ARTICLE wit NIECY NASH & JESSICA BETTS HERE.
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LOVE IS IT.
yesterday, in the throes of feeling some deep two-week long sadness about the overall state of my life, i found a glimmer of hope and a lot of valdiation because of Niecy Nash and Jessica Betts.
i went down the rabbit hole in an effort to recollect my own beliefs about love.
{{ i deserve it. you deserve it. we already know. }}
sssooooooooo, Niecy Nash and her wife, Jessica Betts, graced the cover of Essence Magazine as the first ever same sex couple. #History #Herstory
beautiful. amazing. beyond.
my writing onward will be concise and simple. i will share some nuggets about what struck me most, and please know that you in all your readerly awesomeness can form deeper webs of meaning + understanding about it all- OR!! maybe you'll conduct your own research in a quiet moment so as to rekindle what is real: love's possibilities are immense, simply.
i am openly monogamous, yet do not judge other relationships or relationship identities that span beyond this more traditional personal preference. as far as i can tell from their language however, Niecy and Jessica are each very loyal to each other, and this is a mutually important thread for them. i also loved Niecy's expression about how she actually does better in a marriage, where she is accountable to one person, in depth ... and in her vast sexual glory!! lately, i have reflected for my own self that the richest expression of my sensuality is safely contained (so as to *not* be contained!!) in a monogamous relationship where it is safe to grow.
and safety.
safety is so important.
emotional safety. mental safety.
how-you-use-your-time safety.
safety to pursue your passions.
safety to have conversations about what is
and maybe is not working ~ ~ ~ ~
feeling safe to be your full self, and being respected for the whole of your stories ... as well as your hopeful efforts for betterment as a being ...
"I absolutely feel fully seen," Betts noted. "I feel like all of me is accepted. All of me is loved— and not just the part that I present, but the part that I don't necessarily show to everyone else."
"I feel like the love that I receive from her is custom, as opposed to off the rack. I feel like the assignment happened in the spirit realm before we ever knew about it," explained Nash, who agreed that Betts truly sees her for who she is.
"It's to be accepted for the truth of who you are, all the way around, good, bad or indifferent," she continued. "It's where someone sees your past, your pain, your bullet holes, your stab wounds, whatever you got in a bag over your shoulder when you show up, and they say, 'I see it all, and I still love and receive you.'"
*sigh*
... equally beautiful as the above quotes is Niecy speaking about how she prayed for someone to fill in her cracks- not to be mistaken with "making her whole," but someone who really and truly complimented her.
... equally beautiful as the above quotes is Niecy and Jessica speaking to the importance of individual and couple's therapy, so that they are present and active in their own lives and in each other's in an adequate way. it was clarified by Betts that their individual self-love practices come first, and it's an incredibly luscious icing atop the cake (my words!!) that Niecy and Jessica are naturally compatible and genuinely enjoy spending time together. in fact, if a 25th hour existed in the day, Niecy and Jessica admit they'd be in it together. ... and if other lifetimes indeed exist (i believe so) then their prayer is to find each other again and again.
issa natural supernatural compatibility, and i won't stop believing ~ ~ ~ ~
thank you, Niecy and Jessica, for your presence, and for believing that even after love breaks you, it is possible to pick yourself back up, and seek the same thing that caused your crumble: LOVE.
freaking LOVE.
PEOPLE MAGAZINE REFERENCE: READ HERE
NPR REFERENCE: READ HERE
(a never-ending hopeful for my own True Love
and the life of a wife)
