I’ve been thinking a lot about voice and representation. About being seen (and heard). And the older I get, I continue to be particularly interested in those things that catch you off guard - reminders of what’s tender still. Reminders of where we’ve been and the pieces that make us.

Which brings me to President Joe Biden and 13-year-old Brayden Harrington. And the stuttering we share.

Just after the Democratic National Convention this past summer, the people closest to me reached out with some form of, “I was thinking of you, but I didn’t know the right words to say,” and “Can I ask what that was like for you?” 

Brayden’s speech, given in that orange t-shirt from his New Hampshire bedroom caught me in such a way that I felt the need to physically remove myself from the living room to get sorted. And by sorted, I don’t mean to hide or collect  - I mean to get quiet and curious about the sudden ball of knowing and grief and joy in my chest. 

I’d invite you to watch it, as well as those bits that followed (including his feature during the inauguration special) - and to hold the knowing of how you couldn’t quite know (unless you live this too) how much courage it takes to exist and persist in every one of those seconds -- minutes on live national television. The sheer lion-heartedness.

And then there was Joe and what I notice even still - the slight pauses, the occasional dance of vowels - the extra focus and effort required. In the highest office in the land. 

A flag finally on the mountaintop.

So, I guess my response to those who reached out then and again following inauguration - and my one thing today is this: 

Ah, the joys of being seen and heard. Of freely taking up time and space - the full length, width, and height of us. Permission, invitation I want to give to myself as someone who essentially talks for a living and what I hope to always hold for you in whichever ways you need it.

Let’s meet there.

This is surely the work too.

-Madison
Consultant, Luminare Group 
madison@theluminaregroup.com | LinkedIn