A couple of weeks ago my family crossed the bridge for the final time to land firmly back on the shores of Cape Cod. Before that, we’d been ferrying back and forth for four months trying to maintain normalcy in one place while creating normalcy in our new space in the hopes to make the transition easier for both our young son and my aging in-laws whose place we were moving from. I’m not bashful to say that despite our best efforts, the constant shifting around to appease said parties was crazy-making and left us feeling like grumpy, empty vessels dragging along as we tried to foresee all of the emotional potholes and adjust accordingly to each one.
As the moving truck pulled away from our destination without us in it, there was an invisible wave that hit us much like the force that you feel when you need to stop the car suddenly. As the rocking ceased, we truly felt the weariness in our bones and souls and simply sat and watched the birds flitting back and forth, observing how sometimes in the heat and light of a warm afternoon sun, you feel like you can actually see each particle of air shimmer and swirl in front of you.
Against the grain of habit to immediately begin hosting this past weekend, we chose to cocoon (granted, the weather this past weekend definitely helped with that!) We cleared the calendar and just like on that day when the moving truck pulled away, we created both time and space to practice, prepare meals and have snuggly family independent reading time where we remained together while also nourishing our own minds.
At a time where our worlds are re-opening up in so many ways we couldn’t even comprehend before Covid, the reality is that we’ve spent more than a year crashing in the waves of pretty stormy waters. For as much as we now feel that surge within us to flush out our homes, know that it is fine to enter back into your home and close the door. It is ok to be weary. It’s at this time of quickening where the importance in our daily practices shines a light on how our emotional and physical bodies are and asks of us to work honestly and courageously without doing harm. The message would be the same to cue and observe the shift of time at this time of year on any given year, however during this one, the prompt feels particularly important.
We invite you to make time for yourself and to maintain the ways to return back to your own home.
We will meet you there.
Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.
-David Wagoner
With Love-
Sharon and your TYC Tribe