worldwalker

Ok, as with some of the other posts here, this wasn’t exactly an act of kindness but it was certainly magical and this is about the best place for it.

As most of you know, I usually shop for Mrs C before visiting her. It’s the one day a week that I drive a car so I’m sometimes farther afield than when I’m sans auto. I pulled up to a grocery store on the other side of town recently and, in the rear view mirror, saw a close friend get out of her car. I was the last person she expected to see there and knew it so I contrived a way to just “pop up” in front of her as if out of nowhere. Her face lit up, she threw her arms around me for a hug, but she never said word. And, after a few sentences of small talk from me, I realized that she wasn’t going to say a word. I have no idea why, but it struck her fancy to be on a vow of silence for her grocery trip.

Not being hampered by such limitations, I proceeded as if nothing were different. We walked arm in arm; I talked about this and that and made jokes. Her crystal laugh rang throughout the store and she would nod or crinkle her brow but she never spoke a word. Occasionally when she needed something she would communicate it with a gesture or with her eyes and I would get the message. I was amazed at how expressive she was without saying anything. Linguists say that 95% of our speech is non-verbal and I believe it. It was very powerful and, as I said before, it turned a quick trip to the store and a chance encounter into something magical. I walked her to her car and then she came the closest to breaking her silence. She went into “Charades” mode and when I finally guessed what she said, I think it was something like “You’re a Bozo.” She smiled, hugged me again and then got in her car and left.

At the end of this month I am going on a one week silent retreat with about 200 other meditators, buddhists, and spiritual imps like myself. Could it be any more magical than that one trip to the grocery? I’m really not sure. I’ll get back to you.

ww

Here I was waiting around to be first and forgot all about those 43T’ers on the other side of the planet. That will teach me to be provincial in my thinking. Happiest of Birthdays to you. You are so generous of heart and bring so much joy and inspiration to the people around you that you truly should be celebrated. May your day be filled with chocolatey decadence, fine wine, and jaunty songs.

ww

It was a perfect day for kite flying today so I went to the park. As I was sitting on my blanket feeling the light tug of the kite in the sky, I fell to thinking how it so perfectly resembles the balance of life. If there is no wind, the kite just sits on the ground, lifeless. When the wind is perfect, it hits the kite and creates just enough stress on the kite and string to make the kite dance in the sky. If there is suddenly too much wind buffeting the kite and too much stress on the string, the kite dives straight for the ground. The only thing that can keep it from crashing at that point is to totally release all the stress on the kite, let out all string. Let everything go and the kite will naturally right itself.

As I was pondering this, I was visited by the Three Graces as if to confirm my wisdom. They appeared in the guise of three little girls ages 4 to 7. They liked my kites and thought they were “pretty.” I asked them if they had ever flown a kite, and they said “no.” So I showed them some basics and let them at it. The oldest picked up on my technique of letting the spool fall to the ground and just holding the string. She then discovered on her own that if she ran, the kite would fly sans wind. As I was helping the two younger ones fly the diamond kite, she ran around us with the box kite screaming with wild abandon. The only thing is she left the spool on the ground and was thus unknowingly wrapping us all in string. I discovered this about the time the two four year olds got their sandals caught in the tail of the first kite. The wind picked up, the kites tried to fly and the string and tails tightened around us. Everything came to a tangled halt. We were all one big ball of string, kite, and kids. It took a while to extricate them and myself and they scampered off looking for other adventure.

As I spent the next 20 minutes untangling string and repairing the kites, I had the distinct feeling I had just been given another clue to the kite metaphor but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure it out.

ww