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Greek Mythology “Echo” was a Goddess that fell deeply in love with Narcissus; unfortunately Narcissus could only love himself--Echo ached and pined for Narcissus for so long that an echo was all that was left of her being. When the third child of Ellen and Everett was born—her father looked at his baby girl, she still had not been named but as she laid in her bassinet wailing—her dad didn’t know why she cried so loud and strong; her dad filled with a swelling of pride as he told his wife about the small baby’s echoing cries. He said, “Maybe we should name her Echo?” They both were tired from the long wait for this stubborn child—her dad hadn’t named the first born twin children but this child would be named Echo. When he held her and looked into her tiny bright eyes, he peeked into his little girl’s soul and whispered Echo Ellen (her mother’s middle name) Hixson. Echo’s mom knew that this little girl had managed to seize Everett’ s heart; she was happy; no one recognized that the little girl shared the soul of her mom and daddy—folks would meet the small child and comment how much she was like her dad—“She looks just like him or she has his personality.” Ellen thought that her child was capable of loving unconditionally; intelligent, creative, autonomous, rebellious and stubborn. Subtly filled with pride Ellen and creative Echo would vaguely damage each other ego as they’d clash during power struggles in the days of Echo’s youth. An old friend of the family, Julia would tell tales of how Ellen and eight years old Echo challenged each other; she said that if Ellen tapped Echo on the shoulder; Echo would pass by Ellen and just touch the hem of Ellen’s skirt; with an expression of engagement, pleasure and finality on her tiny face. However, no one ever saw or mentioned how welcoming Echo, was—she was trusting, charming and inquisitive; she was proud of her southern heritage—even if she’d only spent three months in the south; these qualities resembled her mother—maybe Ellen saw and rejected her own image.
As Echo grew into the strong spirited child that her dad imagined she’d become; he didn’t know about Greek Mythology--he simply felt confident that his child could carry an unusual name and find regularity in the definition of the name that he’d chosen for her when she was born. He’d heard beautiful echoes as she wailed for her mom. He wasn’t well-read or sophisticated; he was a simple man that knew about challenges and adjustments in his life. He believed that the eye’s held secrets of each individual soul--How many eyes have we truly looked into? Look deep enough into someone’s eyes and there is a soul behind those brown, gray, blue and green dansing eyes. Sometimes we may encounter a damaged soul or maybe a healthy, happy thriving soul. Echo believes that each of our soul’s danse to different tunes; based upon our experiences, people, places and actions which have a great deal to do with the way that we danse (participate in life). There is a story—a journey behind each soul we encounter; although we all share this common space and time with each other she believes that each soul has its own path. Some souls can have a unique flavor or a common taste—the more common the story the less interested we may become. How many moments in a lifetime are significant moments of an individual’s life? How do these moments interlace with other lives? Impacting the rhythm of life so much so, that it actually creates another tune?
Another tune so unfamiliar that the danse must be rehearsed—leaving the danser off step. To learn the danse, we must have passion and stamina. Soul Life has an elaborate echoing which mingles with other living forces; exchanges of desire pleasure or pain; we can affect each other’s life with a single exchange, such as sharing a smile, sharing a comforting thought or spending a moment in time with each other. As the Eighteenth Century Romantic Savage wrote, “Man is born free and everywhere there are chains (slavery).” “Chains,” as we have witnessed; or as we have lived and learned that: everyday interaction with each other is another chain. Imagine the familiar sound of the rattling, swooshing airborne song of linked chains, as we step to the danse of experiencing a sudden attack of breath-taking love or an undeniable burning of rage--the interaction involved in the phenomenal transition of birth, life and death; are intriguingly described by Echo as tattoos. The birth of a child, witnessing the life of loved one’s—experiencing each of our own lives; the death of a child or the death of a truly beloved parent these are tattoos that can be found on so many of our hearts; they are painfully indelible engraved tattoos, that dictate one’s (danse) lifestyle throughout their lifetime. These indelibly engraved tattoos of the sudden or expected death of loved ones--These chains always leave the link marks tattooed someplace in or on one’s heart. That sudden impact of joy or pain---causes ecstasy or anguish with a vastness of emotion leaving yet another link marked tattoo.
We all have the potential to give love and to receive love. At birth, each person is blessed (unless one happens to be born disabled) with a primal, instinctive responsiveness of endless potential—that primal instinct must be nurtured as an important step in the danse. Echo had witnessed a severely retarded individual, through the perseverance of nurturing, faith, love and charity rise above what could have been a life shortened by distance and disregard—flourish into an awareness of “being” beyond what any professional had believed possible; she has lived way past any mortality rate set for any such person—through genuine love and patience; she has lived a life better than some more fortunate (?). Echo’s story will reveal the people that have passed through her life, leaving tattoos on her heart--people with great passion & faith--people seeking passion & faith; and those people who operate without any idea of the gift. It is said that if the truly courageous falls down, they’d find some way to get up and keep going--Faith is the way, and yet it is easier to pull one’s self together when there is a partner a companion nearby supporting the fallen for as long as necessary for the other to RISE—“Two are better than one; they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls; the one will lift up his companion but woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
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©2009 Evan Hawkins.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4389-1912-6

Tags: echos, evan, excerpt, familiar, hawkins, introduction

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