An open letter to Enchanta
A letter of gratitude and sisterhood
Dear Enchanta,
I ran into you on the elevator and in passing I mentioned that I wanted to silk press my hair. Not one second later you told me you could do it so I wouldn’t have to pay for it. I was honest and told you it would take at least 3 hours, probably more, but you were so excited and told me you’d still do it. We agreed on a Sunday evening to spend at least 3 hours together. Even before Sunday afternoon, you had given me instructions and provided the hair products I needed to make sure we were good to go.
When I got there, you put my hair down and so gently started brushing it. I don’t remember the last time anybody brushed my hair, not even me, and so the 3 anticipated hours began. We all know it wasn’t going to be 3 hours because we knew we would get distracted with laughter and tears and with your sweet little companion dog, Hunter. When our friends showed up to the party, it was like the cherry on top.
I know this place where we live is complicated, but in this moment your little apartment became a temple filled with sacred stories of love, heartbreak, and rebirths. We dreamt and laughed, and laughed, and laughed, and laughed. Your hands brushing my hair so gently through it all.
These days, my heart has been nothing but tender and quiet, but every time you have shown up to hold [me][and my laughter][and my tears]. I think of all the times you ordered dinner for us when I couldn’t cook a thing, how you stayed up with me till 2:00 AM just to sit with me, and all the times we walked down the streets of Harlem in the freezing cold on our way to a random adventure.
And so there we were, at this made-up hair salon, with music playing in the background, and slowly but surely the heat of the hair straightener began to change my hair. There was a moment when I thought the Divine Herself was brushing my hair, reminding me that love lives here. Each hour we spent together felt like the ancient Japanese art tradition of Kintsugi, where the artist puts broken pottery pieces back together with gold, creating new life to what was once fragmented.
And I wonder, what did I ever do to deserve to be loved this way? To be brought back to health with so much gentleness and love? I hope you know how powerful and fierce your presence is.
Thank you for being my sister, for being my friend, for letting me into the corners of your soul, and for walking into my own with so much ease.
I hope you too get to experience the gentleness you have shown me, the brilliance, the hope you bring, the lowering of the shoulders I feel when you walk in, the belly-hurting and rolling on the floor kind of laughter, the reminder that Spirit is always and continually restoring our souls, and most of all, how beloved you are.
An ancient texts reads, “there is a time for everything…”
a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to break down and a time to build up;
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance;
Thank you for being someone who shows up for everything. The times to weep and to laugh, to kill and to heal, to plant and to pluck what has been planted. Thank you for showing up when it was a time to mourn, but I know the the time to dance is finally here.
Con todo mi amor y todo mi corazón.
Tu hermana,
Karla
