Bona Fide
The moments of beauty make every difficulty worthwhile and every hardship bearable.”
OTHERWISE ENGAGED
Joanna Barker
“Every now and then, when the flow’s not coming, you gotta get up from your couch or desk, you gotta go out on the porch , look up at the sky, and enjoy the humility of just taking in this obviously superior and more complex creativity. What we do can never match that. Could I ever write a poem as intricate as a pine cone?”
Nathaniel Mackey, poet
“Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.”
Fredrick Buchner
Anyone who has ever enjoyed the genius of the Coen brothers as it is manifested in their film, O Brother, Where Art Thou? can appreciate why it is a family favorite. Homer’s, “The Odyssey”, is a delightful jumping- off point for a great movie that is written with humor and insight, perfectly cast, with an incredible soundtrack. The music, very heavy on bluegrass, is perfect. My daughter, Rebecca, and I were so taken with “Angel Band” that we chose it to sing during a service at our church many years ago. It is still a sweet memory.
Writing a screenplay with so many twists and turns must have been insanely difficult, and also lots of fun. Following Everett (George Clooney) and his partners- in- crime (literally, they had broken out of prison), is enthralling and immensely entertaining. Besides evading a very scary lawman intent on capturing or killing him, Everett is trying to win back his ex- wife, Penny,(Holly Hunter), who has found a new man to wed. Everett is incensed! He maintains his claim as the “pater familias” and tells Penny he will not relinquish his wife and four little girls to Penny’s fiancé, Vernon T. Waldrip. Vernon is short on charisma but, according to Penny, unlike Everett, Vernon is “bona fide.”
Looking up “bona fide” was not terribly illuminating in the first pass I made. Used in legal documents, it is translated from Latin as, “In good faith”, which I already knew. Other definitions included, “authentic, genuine, and real.” I kept digging. After all, something, (or someone), can be authentic, genuine, and real while still being authentically, genuinely, and really horrible, deceitful, and despicable, right?
Words are powerful. They can stir up mischief, raise doubts, shatter dreams. Words can lift and encourage, cause grief and hurt feelings, make laughter bubble up unexpectedly, or sobs to erupt without warning.
Fortunately, my search for synonyms was not in vain, and my spirits rose: true, legitimate, lawful, sound, sterling, natural, original, honest, actual, valid, sincere, credible, pure. Just reading these words over several times gave me a sense of peace. I also recalled the strikingly similar words written by Paul, from prison, to the church he established in Philippi:
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.”
Philippians 4:8
NIV
I started writing this post weeks ago, while walking miles everyday in the San Juan mountains. It has been quite a few years since I have been to our cabin in the fall. This was a bonus trip; unplanned, spontaneous, last-minute, and solitary, except for my dog, Lucy,who is my constant companion in the mountains. What is a hike without a dog?
In the summertime, when lots of my friends are in Creede for weeks and months at a time, we all make a plan and meet at one of our favorite trailheads with various and sundry dogs, to hike, chat, laugh, and soak up the beauty that blesses our lives in the mountains. The dogs run up and down the trails, explore off- trail smells, zoom in and out of creeks, and rejoice in the freedom and glory of this paradise for all creatures, great and small. Hiking in the summer is bona fide.
In the fall, my ambling strolls are quieter, more contemplative, just like the scenery. Usually, it is just Lucy and me. She still explores, but not with the intensity of the summer. As always, she swims in the beaver ponds, trots ahead, lags behind, but stays closer than just six weeks ago. The trees are ablaze with a riot of colors that fills me with a sense of wonder, and the mountaintops have a dusting of snow that creeps down closer with each day of cooler weather reminding me that each season is transient. The birds are not nearly as raucous as they were in the summertime, and the quiet in the wild places is deep and soothing. Ambling in the fall is bona fide.
Many years ago, when Ed and I were very young, in graduate school, at Trinity University in San Antonio, we loved spending time driving around in the country outside San Antonio. We bought a secondhand Grumman canoe and spent lots of time during the weekend on the Guadalupe River paddling, fishing, and just enjoying being away from books, and the part- time jobs that kept the lights on in our apartment. We each had multiple “side hustles” to being full- time students, but being starving students and newlyweds was pretty swell; especially, when we were playing outside on the river, playing tennis, racquet ball, or bowling with friends, (Trinity University had amazing facilities for all those activities, besides the canoeing), or playing cards and sharing meals with our dear friends, another young grad school couple. I wrote about the enduring power of that relationship in DISPATCHES FROM THE HEART in "The Three Davids" chapter. We are so grateful for friendships that never end. Could anything be more bona fide than that?
D’Hanis, Texas, a small community located southwest of San Antonio, is well- known for beautiful tile and magnificent pecan orchards. Ed and I spent lots of time driving around and looking at those amazing trees. Ed had helped his parents plant pecan trees at his grandparents’ farm in East Texas when he was just a boy. He loved pecan trees and while we were in college, compiled a notebook of, well, everything he could find about growing pecan trees. Years later, when our daughter, Rebecca, realized her dream of owning a horse farm, in Parker County, Texas, the property serendipitously had a plethora of pecan trees- some of them over 100 years old. Ed got to work. He pulled out the old notebook, had numerous conversations with the county agricultural agent, and had the soil analyzed. He planted more trees, put in drip irrigation for the new little trees, and planted even more trees. When he was in congestive heart failure, waiting and hoping for a new heart, we would go to the farm every few weeks to drive around in the mule, check on the trees, put baby bass and perch in the new tank, watch sunsets, and experience a sense of peace that lasted until we drove back to Austin for more doctor appointments, more study sessions, more “prehab” with physical therapists, more waiting. The farm and the trees were therapy. Those pecan trees are a legacy that will outlive Ed. Those pecan trees are bona fide.
We live in a world filled with distraction, deception, noise, and images that make it difficult to stay focused on the relationships, the experiences, the pursuits that are bona fide. Buchner was right about every life containing beauty and terror. How do we find what endures? I believe the answer lies in Philippians 4:8. I believe that love overcomes fear. I believe love is bona fide.
Love and Grace,
Paige
