Monday, April 06, 2009



ABIDE

The same night it got all heavy, deep and real talking about genetic testing, one of the women was sharing that she's pulling up stakes and moving several states away to be with her love.

"It's time for me to abide," she simply said.

"Abide," I said. "I love that. I might have to steal 'abide.'"

"It's free," she generously answered.

As my friend Prema says, that word "dropped deep."

I came right home and looked up "abide" - I had a general working knowledge of it, but wanted every little detail (so me).

Merriam-Webster defines the word abide, as such:
1: to wait for : await
2 a: to endure without yielding : withstand b: to bear patiently : tolerate
3: to accept without objection
intransitive verb
1: to remain stable or fixed in a state
2: to continue in a place : sojourn

I love the word and the concept so much, I'm considering writing a whole book about it. Maybe the sequel to UNSTRUNG?

11 comments:

pixiemama said...

It is such a beautiful word.

Thank you for sharing. I love words. I love using a word until it suddenly looks like it's spelled wrong. Right now I'm loving solace. Type it, wait for the squiggly little red line to judge my misspelling.

xo

Deb Shucka said...

From unstrung to abide - there are galaxies worth of growth and healing in that distance. It is a powerful word.

Jerri said...

(sigh) "accept without objection."

Wouldn't it be wonderful to accept our lives without objection.

Amber said...

Mmmm...'wait for it'.
Yes.

:)

Tanya @ Teenautism said...

I've always loved that word, in all of its connotations. I must admit that it reminds me of The Big Lebowski, even though I was familiar with the word long before the movie came out.

Wanda said...

Sometimes I am not so good with the "patient" part.

Ask Me Anything said...

Sounds just right

jess said...

love it. funny thing is, i've usually used it in the negative .. as in 'i will not abide ..' gonna have to try turnin the bus around

Laurie Harper said...

You have so many wonderful epiphanies on a daily basis I feel like I am standing still! Thank you so much for sharing your innermost self and soul with us--for bringing all of us along on your Amazing Journey and heightening our awareness of all things big and small.

Anonymous said...

I have heard it a million times, but never as you have caused me to here. Lovely.

contemporary themes said...

How did I get so far behind and miss these posts? Well, I'm needing all this "comfort food" tonight. I was "hungry."

This is just beautiful.