I’ve spent the weekend marveling at the world. Yes, there are still things that scare me and things that p*ss me off. There are things that feel sad to me. And things I choose to ignore. But this weekend there’s been a very dear voice echoing in my ears and heart.
The voice belongs to my Farm Gramma, Elsie. She’s still famous for a great many things among the family, but this is my favorite…
Doesn’t that just wonder you?
There are lots of things to wonder about in my world!
My kids had brunch with their neighbors, everybody in their yards on their respective sides of the privacy fence. Chatting like, you know, telephones before Face Time!
Then, there’s Greek mythology. I’ve got a lot more homework to do and it has to do with our new medicine painting process called Hydra’s Flare. We started yesterday. We, in this case, being about 3000 women all over the world, gathered via the miracles of livestream, connected by virtual red thread or, in my case, literal red thread bracelets handmade by my girls.
Our teacher, Shiloh Sophia McCloud, asked gently, before the healing journey began, what we were hoping to heal.
My intuitive answer was fear. Most immediately, in this moment, fear of germs, of the Legendary Husband snuffling, of what’s next in the USA… well, you get the drift. And so I began with an intention of letting go of any fear that was available for healing.
Favorite colors, good music, a bit of dancing, time for chocolate, a tear or two, and big dogs to leap in the studio.
There’s more painting to do but I’ve learned a lot. Perhaps the most important part was realizing that the big picture fears I thought I brought for healing turned out to be the particular fear of pain.
If you’ve known me a while, you realize that I’ve had a bit of practice with pain. Mostly the orthopedic kind. I won’t bore you with the details. Feel free to fill in the blanks from whatever parts of you might relate.
There were, however, other things on the weekend list as well. Some time to hang virtually with our kids. A chicken to dry brine. And chocolate. Two kinds.
You see, in addition to being what Shiloh refers to as Mamas’ Day, it’s also our 30th wedding anniversary. And the 30th anniversary of my graduation from Columbia Seminary, the first time.
So, chocolate. The dark, yummy, mini-muffins Bill loves. And the raw, dark chocolate bark with roasted almonds and Maldon sea salt that works for my stress reducing obsessions with really, really good chocolate and salty, crunchy things.
Roast chicken, too, of course. With a bit of wild rice stuffing and some excellent gravy that’s mostly roasted veg.
And stories. Wedding stories. Kid stories. Healing stories. Paint stories. Blessing stories. And, I suspect, less fear. I’ll keep you posted.
For this moment, Happy Mamas’ Day to you, in whatever way you relate. Happy Anniversary to the love of my life. And Happy Healing (Soon!) to all.
p.s. Elsie wants me to add, Happy Wondering!