This Next Bend...

C’mon hurry, Ain’t no time for worrying

Gotta go

Move on

Just leave the lights on, Grab some clothes,

set those sights on that 4 lane road

I’m gone

In a truck, in a train, in a car, in a bus

Change my luck, Can’t stay, Going far, In a rush

Got that getaway feeling

I’m Leaving

Trust me, Something better’s gotta be

Right around, This next turn

Gonna be just fine

Toss the map, don’t look behind

Push that pedal down

Burn

Here I go - Paul Brandt 'Leaving'

Oh, the adventure waiting just round that next bend...that next turn in the highway, that back country road, drifting round the corners in a cloud of dust and rush...the excitement filling the mind and flooding the soul is breathtakingly glorious. I feel it...can't wait for it, I'm leavin...hiking into lost lakes, old stream beds, rushing rivers tripping over falls into a maelstrom of water below...four wheeling across dunes of sand into forests lushly green...plunging into icy cold northern lakes and feeling sublimely alive...hopping a plane to anywhere across the pond, meeting people with accents reminiscent of dewy Irish mornings and harsh Scottish Highland mountains... sing song lyrical Italian floating into the ear with all the grace of a hummingbird in flight....to say nothing of the romance of the Italian people...

Oh yes dear treasures...adventures abound and wait for your climb from the pit, your emergence from that self-isolationist protective huddle...healing journeys along a new path... a new adventure to build confidence back where it was sucked dry by the venomous pilfering thief who looked only for your subjugation and their ensuing ego survival.

No worrying about saying something, doing something you know NOT, to create the crazy; the zero to sixty jump into bantam-chested rage, with all the predictability of a chimpanzee.

Just peace, no chaos...just love, no hate...just acceptance, no rejection; no betrayals, no lies to muddle fuddle through, no hyper-vigilance and extreme levels of fear.

Peace....while love saves us, peace calms the spirit and allows healing to flow, lending super power to all the love that keeps us here. Priceless. Truly, unequivocally priceless.

I have been receiving invitations to participate in certain functions and get togethers and while everything within me is screaming 'I'm not readyyyyyyy,' the wisdom that speaks softly in my ear reminds me of progress and healing.

It paints a picture of living life large, taking the moment to pull over and watch as the sun rises to greet me in hues of purple, pink, mulberry, plum and amethyst, I am filled with a thankfulness I cannot begin to describe adequately. There is SO much beauty all around us, a multitude of adventures just awaiting our turn to the right, to the left and all points in between.

And so I chose to tuck the moose living in my house away and outside to enjoy the sunshine and warm air, jumped in the truck dressed for comfort and class, made my way and arrived a fashionably half hour late.

 In so doing I was blessed with the sight of a longtime friend of my mother's, and just like that she stood beside me in spirit, in thought, in memory of a love I miss so very much. The connection, the sense of something more was heavy in the air as this woman grabbed my hand and said 'oh, Marjories daughter!' We shared a deep love for a woman who embodied the loving kindness of God in every way. No push, no shove for others to share her faith, though she spoke of it and her belief, she did so gently, convincingly...she knew what she believed deep within and lived the example til the day her mind lost its way.

In going to the event I had opened an invisible door to the land of plenty...plenty of love, compassion, understanding and grace....filled to the brim and overflowing...

Step out my friends...walk it out...the bounty that lays beyond anxiety, and a need for solitary life washes away with each new quest; every time you choose to push through the wall of sludge that keeps the feet mired and the mind fettered, another shackle falls to the ground. Free...free to choose, free to breathe, free to love...

May God bless your days and nights with grace, with mercy and the strength to move off in new directions...

May your steps take you where you have always dreamed of going...stealthily, steadily and with purpose.