The Birds Always Do This

 

I've just had an incredible week...one that began with a spiritual, silent retreat among old and now new friends at the Call of the Times at Peace Village in the Catskills...

then a trip to Rochester—through some pouring rain on the Thruway with the Honda wide open—quite an experience. Landing at my sister Joan's and her husband Jim's home...  The next day time spent with my dearest friends Cathy, then Julie, and then dinner with my sister Theresa, and brother Dan and my lovely sister-in-law Jo...and of course a visit to the home I was brought up in and my parents and Jim at what will be my final place here. My own Memento Mori*...

then an amazing day spent with a bunch of my high school girlfriends—at the place we frequented 50 years a go as teens just opening up to our world. It felt like that again. We rode so many rides that I would never think of now, we laughed, we shared, we connected as deeply as we did then. SO lovely!

Really an amazing week that has left me grateful for the connections with my spiritual family, my dear friends, my family, my teenage self, my homes, my God, and my purpose and my joy.  Perhaps a seemingly weird mix, but a perfect mix for my soul. Gratitude runs deeply.

My last day at Peace Village awaking early from very deep spiritual connections, I wrote the following. My wish, to carry this forward.

♡∞♡

August 17, 2025, 5:55AM

Woke up early with one very itchy toe and a headache so I'm up crack of dawn as they say, sitting outside the dining hall watching the dawn turn to day. Of course, a heart shaped cloud on the horizon. 

Oh how I love this community.

What an amazing few days I've had.

What will I take away?

That I always have a home here

That by simply remembering to remember GOD, we can connect again.

That GOD is my heart torn open and the light pours in.

That eternity is found by sitting on a rock on a hill among bees and cicadas and lichen and bachelor buttons and wild thyme and heart shaped clouds.

That GOD gives us what brings us to Him and we honor and bask in that love by embracing and employing what we have been given.

That we love by receiving and giving.

That birds always do this.

That friendship runs across time, through silence, through touch, through tears, through  laughter, and through listening with a wide open heart

That I am OK and this is OK and that I have been given a second chance at love and life and that is to be embraced and celebrated in the now and is well worth any grief that may or may not come later.

 ♡∞♡

*Memonto Mori

Ancient Rome: The concept of memento mori was significant for the Stoic philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome. They believed that reflecting on mortality could provide perspective and encourage them to live a more virtuous life.

Buddhism: Known as maraṇasati, this practice involves mindfulness of death to foster a deeper understanding of impermanence, cultivate gratitude, and reduce fear surrounding death.

Christianity: Memento mori in Christianity reminds believers of the inevitability of death and encourages them to live a pious life, focusing on spiritual values and preparation for the afterlife.

Existentialism: Existentialist philosophers, like Martin Heidegger and Jean-Paul Sartre, emphasized the importance of acknowledging death to live more authentically and take responsibility for one's choices. 

 ♡∞♡