Last night - SEN5ES

My friends and I gathered for a SEN5ES party - each couple of people responsible for bringing an activity that would stimulate the senses of the others. We spent the evening in a loft apartment furnished with red velvet curtains, food, wine, candles and coloured lights. We ate fruit we had never eaten before. We sat with our feet in a warm bath while guessing smells with our blindfolds on. We massaged and were massaged, listened to a story of sounds and lit sparklers.

Later we walked outside with a small dog and bought cigarettes at the 7-Eleven.

The night was windy - threatening rain. Kevin got soaked taking the dog for a walk.

And for a while, I lay down, wrapped in a crocheted blanket that reminded me of my Dad's house. My eyes were closed. I could hear what the others were saying as they gathered around the table. But in my mind's eye there were so many other people present. People who were striking because of their extreme ordinariness. They were not beautiful, not ugly - but just regular, all different shapes and ethnicities. And I as passed through their midst, as they passed by me, their form would shift from ordinary person to ordinary person. Like facets of a crystal. So many people.

Coming home felt so good. To lie down in my own bed and listen to my music and to be alone. That was the sixth sense stimulated for me: my sense of self.