(not necessarily in that order)
I’m feeling so blessed! Yesterday’s sharing of some doubts and concerns immediately resulted in an outpouring of support and encouragement from friends far and near.
Having people in one’s corner — believing in you, praying for you, knowing that all will be well with you — makes all the difference in the world.
Thank you, friends! 💗
I’ve been reflecting on how huge and exciting small things feel these days.
This morning I made it to Master’s Market at the tail end of “Healthy Senior Shopping” hours. This was the first time I actually browsed the aisles and shopped since we started self-isolating in mid-March!
Small but huge.
We’ve been out of our usual hand soap refill for some time. What made it worse is that the last time (I thought) I purchased it, instead of the gel I accidentally picked up the watery liquid soap for foaming dispensers. So, after not being able to find it anywhere for weeks, the other day it was in stock at Target, so I ordered it, and it arrived yesterday.
Small but huge.
A community resident did a Costco run today and was able to buy us a large container of spring mix — yay! And when I went to pick it up I was able to say hello (masked and from a distance, of course) to several friend/neighbors I hadn’t seen in almost six weeks.
Small but HUGE.
Thank you, God, for blessings small but huge.😄
Amen.💕
When I’m out walking nowadays I usually see somewhere between three to five other people, either walking or driving by.
What a contrast to the “good ole days” of two weeks ago(!), when a Tuesday saw me moving from home to the music office to Master’s Market or Expanding Light for lunch to the mail room to the Temple of Light for choir rehearsal. I could easily encounter a hundred friends in the course of the day!
Now, in order to check in and see how friends are doing, I need to either write, call, video chat, or text. Which means putting it on my to-do list so I don’t completely forget about it in the midst of all the other tasks of my day.
I’ll never take all those brief, spontaneous, joy-filled encounters for granted again.
Maybe it was something astrological. All I know is…today was perhaps the most communication-intensive day I’ve ever had!
I chatted with friends old and new over breakfast; conversed with Village friends at lunch; connected in the mid-afternoon with yet more friends; and spent time with new out-of-town friends during dinner.
Altogether I interacted with twelve different people: at a friend’s house off-property; at Master’s Market; in the Lahiri building kitchen; in the music office; and at The Expanding Light Retreat.
Topics included (among others) how we met our husbands; gardening; the importance of the arts at Ananda; whether or not to play the melody when chanting with harmonium; and strategies for growing the choir at an urban Ananda center.
Connecting with so many different people often feels overwhelming and draining, but today I managed to simply flow with it and had a lot of fun!
We’re at the midpoint of Inner Renewal Week and I’m already feeling “full up”!
Filled to the brim morning after morning with wisdom and inspiration from Jyotish and Devi. Filled with soul joy from so much singing. Filled with gratitude for opportunities to connect with dear friends — old and new!
So tonight is the moment to take a breather. Aaahhhh… 😎
It’s almost time to say our good-byes; almost time to fly home to California in order to return to “regular” life.
It’s always hard to leave our Lugano family and dear friends, despite the fact that we’re going back to be with other family and dear friends! In fact, we are extremely fortunate in that wherever we go there are people we love, and who love us in return.
We’re sad, but we know in our hearts that — truly — there’s nothing to be sad about: we’re carrying all the people we love with us in our hearts, wherever we go.
Today was about prepping and packing; tomorrow we fly to Switzerland to visit Ramesha’s family. We’ll also spend time with Ramesha’s (pre-Ananda) best friends, who’ve continued to be very close to us over the years.
I can’t really wrap my mind around anything else right now, especially since I really want to get to bed at a reasonable hour.
Buona notte!