Oh, my porous, ideating, creative diva of a leader. Jo, as a woman, is palpable power. Her presence gives the air a strong, calm ninja-like quality. Her vision is wide and alive. Her capacity stretches to meet the demands of circumstance. When spread too thin, she reels herself in with a chuckle and a nod and shares tid-bits with me along the way. Her unyielding loyalty to friends, family and fairness and to the design of the world around her is grounded by intuition and guided by a high force.

She feels like a crescendoing tune that serenades life, thirsty for more and ready to pump the well.

I had moments with her on the daily, we worked together for years. Each of those moments I cherish, my love was rooted. I hold her on (SUCH) high, for Jo is a an observant treasure gatherer. Each artifact and each relationship, that she so keenly chooses, feels like a piece of divinity bestowing the sounds of timeless importance. You know it's f-ing good when Jo says, "It's good."

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I love our meet-cute. We met years ago in a chilly florescent open-concept-office-space, heavy with cubicles and deadlines. Through a chorus of teamwork, we pieced together stories while we collided identities. We grew alongside each other. We tended each other through high drama, faltering circumstances, beautiful visioning, art and very ordinary meetings.

We had a consistent rhythm that felt graced and sacred. We were side-by-side until my move away from our city and the subsequent collapse of the open-concept-office-space. This gave our relationship pause. Through it, we stuck and were delivered into our next iteration. 

She is a mama now. A deep regret of mine is not being a physically present Auntie to her babies. But I proudly take the role of Auntie from afar, one that lives in the ethers but would do anything for her family. She has delivered her babies to glorious celebration because now, these incredibly important little beings can be in the realm with Jo's specialness.

I am always fully present and fully curious when in her presence. I suppose that happens to everyone she loves. I learn things that cannot be learned anywhere else. She has taught me textbooks worth about common sense and life and the way of things. Jo is deeply thoughtful and so intuitively funny. 

She holds a distinguished and humble confidence; it pulses at the pace of dreams and possibility. 

I look up to Jo. It's her arrow-focused energy, her very presence that just clicks with time. She is an idea-a-tress, a builder and a channeler. Sharp-witted, she reconfigures deliberately based on changing waters. Spiritually-guided, she taps into the powers all around.

Her body has challenged her in deeper ways than she airs out publicly. Her calm acceptance and clever non-confrontational workarounds through hard times always have me spinning with awe.

I love her because she is a curious seeker. I love that she is a horse woman. I love her radical intelligence gathering, guided observations and articulations. I love that she speaks truth to power and truly understands the weight of words and deeds. She love that she can't help but build beautiful experiences that bring people into connection. I love that those full experiences are contained by well-thought-out, solid structures. I always want to be a part of her worlds and vow to support the construction and nurturing of them all.

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One of my favorite things about Jo is her taste. Her taste lends itself to her style and the art she consumes and the restaurants she frequents and the places she travels. She captures the feminine and masculine. Her taste is sculpture, 3D, and it precedes her through its grace and of-the-moment essence. She dips into discreetly iconic more often than not and if you're in her orbit, that feels like the epitome of class.

I love her high standards for they allow the rest of us to fall deeply in love with the worlds she builds and bask in the design of parties, concepts, art, books and architecture.

It is one of the great honors of my life; loving her so intimately through our daily interactions and now through our long-distance efforts. She has gently dented my heart. I love how cool, calm and collected she appears, floating through the world while simulanteously being deeply grounded and rooted into love and justive and fairness. I love that when I am in overwhelm and in joy, I caress my heart's dent and gather her dense, warm mystery all around me. I ask you all to raise your glasses and toast, with pure pride, to how this magical force of a woman has manifested herself in this lifetime. Stay tuned, for she will float and build and be guided for many years to come. May she know we are witnessing her greatness and share our most loving support toward raising to what she dreams up next.

xx, D

PS. This is a series entitled, "Love Letters" and it's dedicated to the women in my life who have impacted me in ordinary ways that feel quite extraordinary. It's my hope that my letters move each of them toward a deeper self knowing and be a catalyst to normalize sharing how much we love each other.

I was inspired to write this series because of a funeral. A friend was taken too soon and throughout the heavy hour in church, I knew Jane felt the outpouring of love but it made me sadder still that she may have missed it when she was among us. So, instead of waiting until the people we love are gone, please share who they are to you and why you love them so dearly, as I am choosing to do here and now.