UPDATE:  I got it wrong!  Luc just texted me to say that this painting was created by a Canadian woman – not René Magritte.  That’s right.  We talked about two painters.  I’m laughing.  I won’t change the title … just for fun.

This afternoon I was sitting on the terrace of the t’Kanon café in Ghent with my friends Lydia and Luc, letting both the sun and the conversation enter me.

My body was tired from a workout on the elliptical at the gym.  I was still feeling the emotional effects from my esophagus procedure.  And battles with my internet service provider to get good TV reception were wearing me out.

Part of me wanted to be alone in the silence of my room but the larger me had friends to celebrate life with.  Here they were, right before my eyes!  Not to be missed.

Either Luc or Lydia mentioned René Magritte.  I hadn’t heard of him.  Then Lydia showed me one of his paintings on her phone:

From Google:

“René Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature and boundaries of reality and representation.”

Indeed.

My eyes opened.  My fatigue was gone.  René was talking to me.  A man who died in 1967 was reaching across the years.

Everybody is dancing.  The rhythms of living were demanding that the folks move … and groove.  The couple in the middle are given lots of space to show their stuff.  The rest of the dancers are happy to yield centre stage.

This is fast dancing.  It looks like they’re jiving.  The faces contorted, the eyes wide, the sweat pouring.  Everything exploding at once.

I could live this way.  I could rise above snakes in my throat, blurry television images, and the ache in my knees as I stretch.  I don’t like any of those things  but who said they have to define me?  Not I!

***

Thank you, René … wherever you are

You came to visit at a perfect time, just like Lydia and Luc