Heather Stewart Poetry

A window to the soul 
A place where the essential me 
Meets the essential you 

Souls rarely communicate better 
Than when initiating persistence  
It is rarely more important 
Than when birthing endurance 

It wasn't something I really understood 
Until you kept me going 
And I kept you going 
When we were not going to quit 
Together 

I don’t think I’ll ever remember her name, but there was once a girl who kept me going with just eye contact. It was one of the more striking moments in boot camp for me. You learn things, and you learn things, you know?

I don’t remember what we were in trouble for, but the whole division of recruits doing exercises as the Recruit Division Commanders called out the sets. It can get to be pretty intense. I know there’s always an argument about how intense one generation has it over another, but that was a day when my physical limits were tested. I wanted to give up, but I knew I couldn’t. That would be weak and I didn’t want to be weak. I also knew that I needed something to concentrate on rather than the soreness of my muscles.

Then we made eye contact. We sustained eye contact for the rest of the exercises. It felt like we had made a pact to not let the other one quit.

Of course, this could be seen as largely in my head, but the same affect happened several times over in my career. It was mostly when things got tough, sometimes when things were just incredible. Incredible not always being a good thing. I’ve seen so many movies that talk about sustained eye contact as if it’s mostly about attraction, but life has proven it to be so much bigger.

We’re not gonna quit, because we’re in this together. We’re not gonna let each other down. Together, we have the power to overcome. Without even a word. I’ll never forget it. Or how determined she looked that day.