Happy New Year all!
I just got back from Thailand! I decided to treat myself to this trip for my 40th birthday and celebrate the new year there as well. I’m aware I do not look my age, strangely I definitely feel my age, and maybe a little older. There is no room to write down all of the traumas I have survived or am currently healing from, or the spiritual and emotional wounds I’ve suffered through that now fuel my writing. If I wrote it all down it would seem fantastical.
I feel old y’all, but I have experienced so many miracles and glimpses of light that I can’t help but be grateful for this life. The next phase of my life is about using what I’ve learned to inspire others by creating some amazing life-altering art.
I also realize there was no guarantee I would be on this earth for 40 years. I’ve lost so many friends that were younger than me it seems unreal. Three weeks ago I lost my friend Christine Jean Chambers who was 39. She was a photographer and playwright and was bursting with light and creative energy. She is being given a double page feature in the New York Times to honor her contribution to the black theater community over the past decade. I’m now arranging music for her memorial.
Life is precious and short. What can I do with the time I have? What do I want to be remembered for? What contribution will I have left? What lives will I have touched? How will I have given back? These are the questions I now ask myself. I am hopeful that these are questions we all ask ourselves as we attempt to live a purposeful, impactful life.
Updates:
- I’m working on the final pages of the first draft of The Last Gatekeeper. I can’t wait to have a reading of the book.
- I’m solidifying collaborators for my first album Brown Liquor and Blessed Oil Volume 1, which drops July 4.
- I have exciting updates about Sonny’s Song that I can’t yet share…but it’s good stuff.
* If you want to see videos from the Thailand trip follow my IG.
Thank you for following and supporting me.
Much love,
Germono Toussaint