At our house it was a kitchen door jam. The one with the penciled height marks.
From the day I started 7th grade until the day I started 8th grade, I grew 7 inches!
My sister “may have” thought I was showing off.
My mother muttered about a plot to keep her letting down hems and buying new shoes.
I thought it was hard work.
I ached. A lot.
I got teased at school. Mostly for being taller than the boys, which was a big deal back then.
And I felt even less coordinated than usual, which I never imagined was possible.
All of this along with the hormonal initiations that happen in those years.
It seemed more than a bit much!
In the last few weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about the other kind of growing.
The kind where we become conscious of our filters… of what they’re letting in and keeping out.
The kind where we realize that with consciousness comes the ability to edit. With intention.
And, as you might suspect, I’m hatching. A lot!
Tonight, though, it was time out from hatching as I visited, virtually, with 2 old friends.
Each of them facing, with differing details, a breast cancer diagnosis.
Some of the growing I’ve done along the way came in handy.
In both cases, my long acquaintance with the powerful guided imagery work of Belleruth Naparstek.
An occasion, both urgent and important, to fire up the bone broth cauldron, complete with organic herbs growing in our garden. And bay leaves.
And, gladly, a copy of a prayer I created during my Color of Woman® training. A prayer a bit outside the usual for the tribe that raised me.
Then, a new project for yet more growing.
One of my friends has requested a liturgy for saying goodbye to her breast, so I have some intentional writing to do.
These dear hearts are not, of course, the only sisters facing such journeys and so it seems time for prayer dots. Lots and lots of those, while the broth magic happens.
May growing – all of our growing – be both blessed and a blessing for those along the way.
And so it is.
ps… Click here for Belleruth’s guided imagery materials.
pps… this is “my” Prayer for Fiercely Compassionate Grandmother/elders in Difficult Days, with help from Dr. E.
