Right in the midst of all the hard stuff!
Here’s the context for what’s ahead… Tuesday was a challenge. For me, for sure. And, quite probably, for my physical therapist. You see, my body has not been following the rules either of us learned in school. Let’s just say that we mashed on things that hurt and then I came home and slept, which is – quite probably – what I was seeking!
Late lunch, then back to the aftermath of Sunday’s Furniture Yahtzee game. I’ve arrived at the phase of figuring which books go where, based on which ones I love and need to reach the most! And there were surprises along the way!
The photo at the top is a glimpse of my favorite surprise! It appeared in an old mixed media notebook… an undated gift from my younger granddaughter, back in her budding portrait artist phase! (We have a deal about sharing art, so this is her drawing of me in the corner of a page with all the fam represented… and neatly labeled.)
Fast forward through more sorting, recycling, dinner from Noodle, and the Westminster Kennel Club show, night two, which is always an old days – good times I remember sort of event for me.
Congrats to the gorgeous miniature poodle who took home all the hardware. And to her thrilled handler.
And, yes, my heart would have made a different choice.
Just about then, though, the Muses – read that the paintings! – got chatty!
Apparently they had overheard the writing prompt I posted for my Red Madonna sisters on Medicine Basket Monday. Step 1 involved writing a question in our journals about what comes next with that painting process. Naming a place where we felt stuck… This was mine:
Dear Guardian Angel, I’m so excited about this journey of finding you in my canvas and I’m so lost! As you know, I began with my second True Colors canvas. (Yes… I got attached to the first one when I realized it was the cover of the book I’m writing, but I wanted to keep painting so I went on with a #work-in-progress volunteer.) Anyway… I love what happened there AND it’s not you. So whisper to me, please, about beginning again. This one feels huge to me just now. And, somehow, more than a little scary!
Having claimed the question, step two… With your heart, hand the pen to your canvas and see what comes to you. If you’re new at this, you may feel silly. I used to, too. And it really helps!
You guessed it! My canvas – which, at that point in time, was utterly blank – was ready to respond! Here’s what I heard…
I am your Guardian Angel, dear heart, and I am here to call you out of your grief. The love will remain AND you are ready to move on to a place with more space for newness.
Go get the #work-in-progress canvas. Not the blank one… the one that wasn’t quite ready to be your Guardian during the #Origins adventure. Use your hands to make it new. Your hands that have so much power, even in the midst of the challenges and pain which are also true!
My message for you is to begin again. To reach out. To bring your learning into form. I will be with you.
So! Here’s that canvas as it was, waiting for me.
I’ve been staring at it for a couple of hours, now, and I’m starting to see more. To hear possibilities. The next right thing on the list, though, is voting. The actual kind!
Right after I explain that we made two trips to the Rainbow Bridge in 2023, with the last of our our Newfie rescue dogs. Luther in January. Phoebe just about exactly a year ago. I imagine I’ll miss them – all of them – forever.
For this moment, though, they are whispering, along with the paintings. And suggesting, rather pointedly, that the world still needs rescuing and there really are things I can do to help.
If you listen close, they might be whispering to you, too!
ps… maybe the message is that Guardian Angels are all around us, if we make space for them!
pps… whether you have a painting in progress or not, asking yourself where you feel stuck and listening deep, pen in hand, can be a pretty big door toward unsticking stuck stuff, which is one of my very favorite things!