Aaron – USA
Present and Grateful
Me and my body have been all over the place. I’ve been the fat kid, the skinny kid, and now I’m me.
I love being me. It’s a weird and wonderful thing.
To sit in-between the Bebe Theater and the adjacent Methodist church was the perfect way to prepare for the shoot.
I loved the chance to sit down with Erica and Trey and talk before we began, because this really is a conversation, a conversation that I have had with my body for years, that I had with them in that moment, and that I am having with you now. The conversation never ends.
Then it was time to disrobe. It felt so natural, even with the cameras. I love to act (hence the theater setting), so being on stage in front of the cameras felt completely comfortable to me.
Then came my favorite part, the moment we began to play. Sitting in the chair, standing up and singing Sondheim, improvising a monologue in the style of immersion theater, getting down on the floor to match Erica’s angle: this is the stuff of dreams. And, finally, when all the talking and moving were done, it felt so right to sit across from one another and take the moment in.
There is beauty in the stillness. There is beauty in the motion. There is beauty in the moment, in the skin we are in, in the blood pumping through our veins, through the God-given Spirit in our souls. It’s all a gift.
To hug and reflect as I stood, reclothed, back between the church and the theater was the perfect way to end.
And now it’s your turn, to let your own journey begin. Take it and let it lead you to wonderful places.
Your body is blessed. Amen.