Place, Space in the making of Creation

Clinton and I jumped, skipped, cart-wheeled (well,he did...I wore a dress with no shorts)and laughed our way up and down the grassy knoll you see behind us. I am sure on-lookers thought we were a little coo-coo, probably thought we were drunk.

It was Easter weekend and we had recently learned that we were having a baby. That weekend of 2010, we were 8 weeks pregnant and we were elated...we were on the other side of the world, our families had no idea that we literally started a new life in New Zealand!

So with our lil' bean growing inside of me, we kicked off our shoes, felt the grass and earth under our feet, the warmth of a cloudy end-of-summer sun on our skin and danced to celebrate our love and the exciting new adventure a head of us. This place we danced, laughed and made ours for the day is an important place/space for Kiwi's, both Maori and Pakeha. We were at Waitangi, where Maori chiefs & elders along with Pakeha leaders signed a treaty that created modern day New Zealand in 1840.

One hundred and seventy years later, a Puerto Rican-American and an African American from the Boogie-down Bronx visit the same place to celebrate a creation that emerged from the union of two people/families/ancestors.

Charlie, may not be a kiwi-citizen, but her roots and linkages to Aotearoa (NZ) are strong and well-seeded. I pledge to keep those roots well-tended and watered. I want her to know that ancestrally she comes from passionate communities in North America that fought for social change BUT ALSO that her spirit developed and was nourished in a land of spiritual warriors in the South Pacific.