April
29, 2020
Today’s
many blessings – All day, so many gifts, making it an extravagant birthday!
Sometimes I draw a card from Helena Nelson-Reed’s deck of sumptuously illustrated
earth oracle cards. Each one, a
meditation. The first gift came with the
card I drew – Time. It reminded me that life doesn’t have to be measured
by ticks and tocks. This sort of timekeeping
is a construct that humans devised to capture its passage or its coming when we
are in social groups. Milestones and losing or winning any race have little relevance
in the natural world (unless you are the one being chased for a meal). I like to think of myself as a part of that
order of things. An essential takeaway for me was to stay present and be existentially
timeless.
Boxes
have been arriving for a few days from my family and friends, and I disciplined
myself to hold off on opening them until today.
The stuff is not the thrill, but it is a love token, and that is what is
priceless for me now, living as I do. Purple was a theme color too! I am sitting solidly in my regal cronedom. In one box was a purple rayon scarf, in
another purple two skeins of Australian purple wool, another box yielded a pound
of coffee beans from a local roaster and a T-shirt with a Don’t Call Me Princess
caption emanating from Jedi Leia. And there was the box that held a handmade
set of Celtic Runes. So many gifts! So
much love! The rain and chill outside
calmed the mood to serene, no dreary outside today. I interacted with students
via the computer realm and took my pup out for a couple of walks. I’d made a grocery run before lunch and
picked up what I needed to make Pad Thai tonight. (I realized this is sounding like ho-hum
reporting of daily drivel, these details are rather dull. Patience, please, it
is how the story (toward an amazing end) played out so bear with me. The drab
and ordinary routine of things blossoms quite unexpectedly sometimes.) While in the wine shop, I perused the pinots,
having grown more enlightened about how remarkable they can be. On a top shelf, sitting by itself was an unusual
looking bottle, the whole top half covered in dark wax, and the label was very
gallows humored. Being drastically marked
down, made me even more tempted to buy it. And as I reached for my phone to
google the label, I found that I’d left it at home, a problem because, in its
case, I keep my license and my bank card.
Thus with only the cash in my wallet to pay for my groceries, I walked
away, making a mental note to do my research at home. That came later, too, for
a surprise party greeted me back at school. The students all hid in the darkened
art room and popped out as I walked in!
So many gifts, so much love. I
left that cupcake soiree with more treasure - a solar hummingbird wind chime
and a sturdy bottle of Nordic honey mead – Viking Blod.
I
tuned in to the afternoon news. The governor reported four hundred and sixty-seven
new cases today, and she forges ahead with her plan for the gradual reopening
of the state, which was never really locked down. Then the phone began to ring, and I talked on it more in one day than I usually
do in a week, a mixed blessing for an introvert. But reprise came with the canasta club making
time for a game before study hall. And afterward,
I decided it was time to make Pad Thai. One
more call came in from my sister. She is
a teacher, too, at a Montessori school in Long Island, New York. When Cuomo
made rumblings in March about locking down the city, she jumped on a plane and
flew to Atlanta to shelter with her daughters and their families. Like me, she does online classes for the
remainder of the year and parent meetings as well. This afternoon, she’d had a meeting with a mother
from China, who shared what they are discovering about the kids’ greatness needs
as the lockdown has lifted. Their biggest
crisis has come from being displaced from their friends for so long. It is taking a significant toll on their equanimity. This mother counseled them on the importance
of practicing not only tolerance but greater empathy for their broken social lives. Here, another gift for me.
After
dinner, I took a moment to research the mystery pinot from the wine shop, and I
couldn’t remember the name! So I called
the shop and spoke with Marty, explaining that I was interested in a pinot noir
on a top shelf of that section with a bottle half covered in dark wax. Could he
find it and tell me what its name is? He
was amused and accommodating. Within a
couple of minutes, he was back on the phone.
“I found the bottle, yes, it is distinctive, and the wine is called
Eternally Silenced. Would you like me to hold it for you? We are open until
ten.” I knew that I must have such a
bottle of wine; it had to be amazing! And it is my birthday. “Let me research
it. You might see me tonight. Thanks!”
So,
I did look it up and found that the California winery was called The Prisoner
Wine Company. It is a winery and art
collaborative maker space that is primarily run by women. The key winemakers
are an ecologist agrarian and a viticulture enologist. Yes, I had to go out for
that bottle! So at 9:10 pm, I grabbed my
Westie and headed back to the store. Marty
had the bottle waiting for me beside the register, and $42.00 later, it was
mine. Returning home, as I opened the
car door, I let my pup out for a before-bed pee run and took my treasure
inside.
Right
away, he caught a scent and bolted off toward the wood lot. But within a couple of minutes, he was back
at the door barking frantically. I
opened it, let him in, took his leash and harness off and hung them up, while
he dashed about the place, jumping at the door and yipping. Giving a curious glance
to the outside through the glass, I found myself gazing eye to eye with a red fox. Here was the crowning homage to my sixty-eighth
celebration! The encounter was only a
moment long before the fox dashed off to the shadows. Maybe my dog was a missed snack, and perhaps
the fox had a message for me merely with her presence - to stay alert and agile. There is still an ocean of obstacles before
me, before us all as we navigate this new circumstance of our lives. All I can think about as I head to bed
tonight: gratitude for all the ways I am graced with guidance and encouragement
as I plod along through my life.
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