office politics, using your words

I have heard many things said about me.  I imagine many more possibilities that might be said which I wouldn't care to hear but this little half line and the half line to follow, the creation of (in e-mail form) ever so politely erupted out of 'newsroom' differences caught me a bit of guard.  Well, more than a bit, it stopped me cold in thought. Stated disagreement of policy/content, a few nice words for everyone, within a sort of good-bye and good luck and then "...and Misty has awesome tenacity.  I wish she would run for community council..."

Noun 1. tenacity- persistent determination. (doggedness, perseverance, persistence, pertinacity, tenaciousness, persistence, determination, purpose.
The quality of being determined to do or achieve something: firmness of purpose.

The strangeness of being pegged as tenacious is some what perplexing to me- me?  As I tried to figure it out I thought about what I knew of the man who sees me this way...I met him (a community activist, hard core environmentalist, & published author) for the first time on the Jordan River Parkway.  It was years ago.  I was running my dogs and I might be mistaken but I believe he was canoeing counting downed trees, or perhaps that day he was outside working in his garden, his house being on the river front.  Either way we began talking about our common mistress, the River, and parted with each others contact info.  Over the years we continued to meet in the places an environmentalist/activist and a woman who wanders outdoors a little too often to keep a clean house would tend to meet. 

The last time we meet was outside an elementary school in the peak of the dry heat of a June evening.  He on his bike appropriately dressed for a meeting and me in flip-flops, a little skirt, & t-shirt.  I had trudged west down the block of track housing to the river, walked the dirt path winding to the foot bridge and crossed into the neighborhood on the other side then continued walking the 4 or so blocks to the school for a 6 pm 'writers/newsroom meeting'.  The whole time flip-flopping down the streets my running shoes were in my bag just in case I suddenly became sensible enough to change shoes- I never did.

In that meeting he and I sat at opposite side of the same table.  There were strong forces at work in that little school library room; agenda's clearly posted.  Mine reads: To write and if that causes things to right, then great side effect but don't bag on my river and don't trip over the homeless or the chickens.  

I am stubborn, and I am thin skinned, I am an unbeliever, often diplomatic but just as often irreverent and inappropriate, and I have a very bad habit of gossiping.  It is not out of malice but because I like words, I love stories, and puzzles, and unsolved mysteries. I want to hear them and sort them.  To guess at what I can't possibly know but later find out I was right; to discover that I am not as blind or alone as I feel living with people.  Now I have tenacity too.  And after thinking about it I know why he would say that about me, (the idea of me running for community council only proves he must drink or holds a very large grudge against the council & is looking to dish out some pay back).  Firmness of purpose...it is the way I wear my love for that river with more often than what is respectable for a grown woman to have ankles caked with clay colored trail dust.

I will run beside her and love her until I die doing it.  And if one day she is less polluted and her banks more restored, when she can love us back because we have learned how to treat her then with a little peer review I can I drop all the unnecessary words from his sentence.  It would read "...and Misty has awesome tenacity.  I wish she would run for community council..." All our similarities aside, I have always respected his opinions.

Be blessed by the beauty of the rivers that bring us together but don't forget to respect the power of those which divide us.