Sometimes the moments are magical. Sometimes they are tragically sad. But we know in our hearts that that magic, that oh so tragic, the gathering of kindred spirits during one as created a special moment, a marker or a turning point that impacts us forever.
A truly unique, even magical moment or event like the solar eclipse of 2017, or the horrifying moment when the Twin Towers came tumbling down, or the assassination of JFK, or watching John Glenn walking on the moon on the moon on a black and white tv in a 6th grade classroom on Douglas, Island, Alaska is forever in my heart and mind.
Today, on the anniversary of the 2017 eclipse I watched and listened to Bonnie Tyler's epic 1983 song as I watched one of her Total Eclipse of the Heart videos on YouTube.
Suddenly, time stood still. Sure I noticed her hairdo, the 80s shoulder pads, the heavy eye makeup we wore then.
But i wasn't just transported to the 80s. The song, the music transcended time. Moved through space. I was in the magical inbetween that is a plane and place between and beyond time. A place of magical music, lyrics, meaning and feeling.
A time when our dearest family friends and neighbors were still alive. When the 12 year old daughter, not yet born, still had 14 years ahead of her. A time I had my parents, my aunts abd uncles, all of my sister in laws and friends alive and in my life. I could see them,hear them, feel them and remember them in strange details.
Now, back in my present time in 2018, we went outside into the searing heat of summer, the sky once again filled with the dull haze of skies filled with the pervasive smoke of more wildfires again this year in Oregon. Once more looking next door at the house our dear friends from college days had built just as we built ours right next door. All so different now,
And today, another serious air quality warning, another potentially serious threat by two seriously deranged world leaders threatening each other and all of us with their mind games of war.
With scales of fate always tipping one way or another, i found a place of balance in the garden. I stood up against our wall of flowers.
Deep breathing in spite of the fires everywhere. Deep knowing that the bad is balanced by the beauty of all that's good in the world.
I know that inspite of the seeming barriers I can still find our garden behind the wall of self seeding sunflowers. Finding my way between the thorny weeds, the tangled roots, the hidden tornadoes of giant cucumbers and Godzillian zucchini ready to trip me in the overgrowth.
There are more weeds than berries, more weeds than fruits, or even vegetables. But the good nourishes and even the weeds nean growth and survival of the strongest. I am reminded that we too are strong. The amazing and often unbelievable challenges of my life have shown me this. The chalkenges of yours zi sense, you may share. These challenges prepare us, teach us, harden us through grace and with faith.
I think of my journeys from there to here. Even now, typing on a cellphone , no more desktop computer , no wifi. Old, not working, limited signal strength in my energy filled house of healing.
My posts are less frequent, they take hours to write, import, ride out 1 bar of a phone signal available today through the smoke and haze. Photos take forever to load, to actually save. I report mobile conflicts to blogger but my blog is so complex, my posts so long and image heavy. I am the challenge, too.
But, I can do this. I can do whatever I i need to do for however long I can do it or am given. I can.
And so can you.
We are women warriors and a force to be reckoned with. We dance to our own music, we use walls to climb over, walk through as well as around.
I think, i write and I remember it all. The past, the present and why I i am here and what I am meant to be and to do. Now, where did I leave my coffee cup and who moved my car keys??
Michele Bilyeu Creates With Heart and Hands as she shares her imaginative, magical, and healing journey from Alaska to Oregon. Creating, designing, sewing, quilting, and wildcrafting... from my heart and with my hands.
