The Open Window

[Dates in the sun in Amman, Jordan.  Photo taken earlier this year.]

The cursor is blinking at me like a hungry cat ~ eager for me to keep my fingers moving all over the keyboard, typing words that, when strung together, will create something magical, something inspiring, something that makes it worth the time of anyone who happens to stumble upon this blog.

What is it that pulls us towards one another across the invisible threads of the internet?  Why do we take the time to check in with one another, read about each others' days, travels, thoughts, struggles, simple pleasures and most profound questions?  Is it so we feel less alone?  Is it to save time (why check in with just one person on the phone when we can check in with twenty on Facebook!)  Is it because we see ourselves in the images, words and creations of like-minded souls, and this validates who we are, what we feel, what we long to do?

I'm just asking silly questions while I wait for my laundry to dry.  I'm letting the thoughts and questions flow, trying to feed the cursor that starts blinking the instant I stop typing.  I'm thinking about how magnificently difficult it is sometimes for us to get out of our own way ~ to see that the solutions to our problems can always be found in the same exact place ~ within ourselves.  I'm thinking about the fact that I am having more frequent experiences of discovering wildly unexpected connections between people I know, and that all of these crazy "coincidences" are signs that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

I am thinking about how the other night, on the way to dinner, I noticed the sway of the palm trees and suddenly understood how brief our time in this world really is.  For a moment, I saw every human being in the crowd strolling around the Santa Monica Pier as a bright burst of light ~ here one moment, gone the next ~ and it was all I could do not to weep at the recognition that all of us have a finite amount of time to watch the sway of the palm trees, to smell the salt of the ocean, to hear our lovers' laugh.

Why did I have this sudden burst of insight when I looked at the palm trees that evening, when I see those palm trees every day?  I have no idea.  But during that tiniest speck of time, I understood everything, even that this awakening was slipping through my fingers as quickly as it came to me.  It is as if I passed by an open window, and as I walked by I got a glimpse ~ of the truth, of life, of death, and the impermanence of it all ~ of me, of you, of those palm trees and the wind that moved them.

But now I'm here, and I have this moment, and as I sit here listening to my clothes spin around in the dryer on a quiet Tuesday night, I have to tell you ~ I'll take every bit of this crazy world that I can get, even the parts that hurt.

Comments

[Marilyn]

I have never visited you, but I know about your travels with Gillian and Tara. I am hoping to do the same next March. I love your thoughts. It is interesting how we are drawn to check in with "friends" on the internet. I think for me I am less lonely when I know there are kindred spirits out there. I can share in their joys and their sorrows. Thanks so much.

[Molly O'Neill]

Couldn't agree more with this last line! I'm a new reader who stumbled across your blog today, and am glad for it. I'll be back.

[susanna]

Oh yeees! You are absolutely right! I understand when you write of weeping when seeing the beauty of this world and our limited time within it. We can be in love with this life and this world.

[linda]

and it really, truly is just that simple! trust me!

[Dana Sparkle]

reading a post like this, over coffee in the morning, affirms the light of life. it sure beats the newspaper. ahh the questions open us up tho the magical experiences of our days...thank God for laundry...
*

[SarahWT]

Me, too. :)

[Liz]

thank you
and
thank
you
x

[Lisa]

Savor it ALL...that's why we're here!

[Amelia]

this is beautiful and I totally agree. I worked for a while in a Care Home and realised that life is very short and very precious, and what we choose to do with it counts every little bit! It was that that made me decide that it's now or never to do what I really wish and now I'm going for it, and like you say, it all makes sense in a serendipitious way.

Thanks for the reminder.

Amelia.x

[gillian]

I loved all of what you wrote.
Each word! Such truth in here.
Lately I feel the same way, that we are all here as bursts of light for a brief time!

I just lovingly let someone GO that I was connected with for a few years, an internet friend who stopped communicating out of the blue one day.

I believe we all blog for validation, write, do art, and love for validation. It is our nature, and for that we cannot be faulted. It is those of us who are aware of it that are the most FREE~~~

The ones in denial create chaos and unhappiness in their lives for themselves and others...sadly so. But that is the hurt we must accept as part of the package, as you say. Life is contrasts, isn't it?

And love is light. That is all ~we~ are.

Let's order the boots!~!! xoxoxo !~LOL

Come visit me soon!

[Shelley]

beautiful.. especially your last line.. exactly what i needed to read this morning.

[Grace]

yes x0

[rebecca]

Thanks for this Christine! I mentioned it on my new blog. I have moments like this too, they are so fleeting but so amazing at the same time. They always leave me feeling grateful. Thank you for sharing!

[melissa]

"I'll take every bit of this crazy world that I can get, even the parts that hurt." - YES! I want all of it...every last drop. xo

[Tara Bradford]

The older I get, the more I am aware of life's impermanence. And communication and connection helps us make the most of our brief and "bright burst of light." Thanks for this. xo

[Di]

Delicious. I was reading you and suddenly you were writing of what I was doing in that precise moment.

'What is it that pulls us towards one another across the invisible threads of the internet? Why do we take the time to check in with one another, read about each others' days, travels, thoughts, struggles, simple pleasures and most profound questions?

I'm re-reading (immediately on finishing it the first time) 'When Nietzsche Wept' and he had just said something so very similar to what you had written on 'seeing'.

A timely post, missy. Thanks for taking the time to write while waiting on your laundry. Much appreciated. xo

[Carmen]

I don't want to miss a thing.

[anne]

here's to passing open windows!

[liz elayne]

yes
yes
yes
(thank you)