Night Into Day
From The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.
At heart, hospitality is a helping across a
threshold.
--Ivan Illich
This is the hospitality of relationship: for family to help us manifest who we are in the world, for friends to bring us to thresholds of realness, for loved ones to encourage us to cross barriers of our own making into moments of full aliveness.
Saturday 3rd
I woke this morning to the sound of my neighbours drilling or something... to the sounds of children playing outside... to the sound of life happening. Tired, but knowing that I had an easy day ahead of me, I felt a certain kind of peace.
I was able to spend the morning on Skype with Mir, even though she was sleeping - watching over her, (not that she needed watching over, but...) and watching the rats on the couch, when I could see them all by the flickering light of the TV. Slowly though, the sun started to rise, and the shadows and darkness blanketing the view coming from the webcam lightened and I was soon able to see clearly - like I had come into a moment of full aliveness... to cross from darkness into light. I felt comforted and honoured to have been trusted to share that - to watch the light come up on my sleeping love. There was something special in that, both in being there with Mir to share that time with her, and also in watching the light creeping back into the world - crossing the threshold from night into day. How often we see it the other way around, but rarely this way - and it just... moved me today.
After Mir woke up to call the vet about Lindsay's teeth, she went back to sleep, as she had been up a long time with the rats, and I spent the time watching Mythbusters and reading, because I wanted her to be rested, and then we spent a wonderful day together, talking and typing... and looking forward to being together over the holiday.
Later in the day I saw Sarah when she popped in just in case I needed someone that could speak Arabic when the landlord came for the rent. I also needed someone to change the strip lights bulbs in the living room, one was burned out the other was flickering worse than a candle in a breeze. I worried when I saw her. She looks so pale since the other day. I know her husband turned up unexpectedly. I also know that she's not been answering her phone the way she normally would. I guess I'll find if she's okay with everything when we see each other at work tomorrow.
At heart, hospitality is a helping across a
threshold.
--Ivan Illich
This is the hospitality of relationship: for family to help us manifest who we are in the world, for friends to bring us to thresholds of realness, for loved ones to encourage us to cross barriers of our own making into moments of full aliveness.
Saturday 3rd
I woke this morning to the sound of my neighbours drilling or something... to the sounds of children playing outside... to the sound of life happening. Tired, but knowing that I had an easy day ahead of me, I felt a certain kind of peace.
I was able to spend the morning on Skype with Mir, even though she was sleeping - watching over her, (not that she needed watching over, but...) and watching the rats on the couch, when I could see them all by the flickering light of the TV. Slowly though, the sun started to rise, and the shadows and darkness blanketing the view coming from the webcam lightened and I was soon able to see clearly - like I had come into a moment of full aliveness... to cross from darkness into light. I felt comforted and honoured to have been trusted to share that - to watch the light come up on my sleeping love. There was something special in that, both in being there with Mir to share that time with her, and also in watching the light creeping back into the world - crossing the threshold from night into day. How often we see it the other way around, but rarely this way - and it just... moved me today.
After Mir woke up to call the vet about Lindsay's teeth, she went back to sleep, as she had been up a long time with the rats, and I spent the time watching Mythbusters and reading, because I wanted her to be rested, and then we spent a wonderful day together, talking and typing... and looking forward to being together over the holiday.
Later in the day I saw Sarah when she popped in just in case I needed someone that could speak Arabic when the landlord came for the rent. I also needed someone to change the strip lights bulbs in the living room, one was burned out the other was flickering worse than a candle in a breeze. I worried when I saw her. She looks so pale since the other day. I know her husband turned up unexpectedly. I also know that she's not been answering her phone the way she normally would. I guess I'll find if she's okay with everything when we see each other at work tomorrow.