Rachel Tondreault

SS26 🌈🎶💓🧘‍♀️🐈‍⬛🌞🐥🦄👯🫶💋

Summertime on The West Side ☀️ 🌙 🏔️

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Dearest, most beautiful Kurland 🇿🇦

What could I even begin to say to describe, to thank, to honor all that you taught me during my short little stay? I could speak of the beauty of your corner of the planet. The land, the mountains, the bounty of greenery, the water, the rocks, the cool fu***ng bugs, THE STARS!! I could speak of the warmth in the air- not just the temperature but the goodwill of your people. The cozy kindness in every greeting from every stranger, the generosity of spirit and the welcoming intimacy of a tight-knit community. The people in Kurland care for one another, not just in words but in actions. Through feeding one another, housing one another, educating, loving and watching out for everyone’s children. I held so many hands. So many hands held mine.

In the USA, we have everything. So much of everything that we forget. We have as much hot, running water as we want and we take long “everything” showers. We forget to be grateful. We forget one another. We forget that we are more alike than we are different. We all want a good life, to be safe, to be happy. If I could bring just one thing back with me it is to REMEMBER that we are not alone.

Henry and I stopped in London on our way to SA and watched one of my favorite musicals on the west end, Into The Woods. I’ve known this show for years, played Cinderella when I was 18 and still a soprano. Watching it live at 34, close enough to see the actors spit fly from their mouths and tears run from their eyes, the story’s message is clearer than ever before. After having experienced Kurland, the meaning explodes. We are not alone. You are not alone. Truth is, we don’t know what the f**k we’re doing most of the time. We work our hardest to save our own skin and we call it being “good” while we demean our enemies for being “bad”. We blame, hurt, deny, and destroy one another so that we can clam ownership over peace while stealing that same chance from another. No peace of mine can come from claiming yours. No gain of mine can come from taking yours. With all that I have, with all that I am, I just hope to give more than I take. Kurland, ek is lief vir jou.❤️

2016

The year I became a yoga teacher.
The year I cut off all that hair. Donated 18 inches. I miss it sometimes.
The year I left a job that was destroying my nervous system to pursue a career in the theatre, something I always wanted and was so afraid to fail at. I ended up with so many acting jobs that I once performed 3 different plays in one day-Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, and an original called 4 Legs To Stand On (If you know you know!)
My last year of full blown addiction. I drank nearly every day. I was drunk driving, drunk fighting, drunk all the time. When I saw this trend pop up, I started looking for pictures from this year and couldn’t find very many. Makes sense. Might be for the best.
2016 was the last year I lived in shame of who I was. It was also the first year I put my dreams into action. Life is funny like that sometimes, painful bits pressed right up against the magic. A decade come and gone. Don’t take me back.