You can almost hear the uncoupling.

“Your mother has 3 weeks to live.”

You can feel the lift off.

“You’re pregnant.”

You can sense the profundity.

“You didn’t get the job.”

At that moment, you know that the path, the journey, the track you are on is changing. It’s like being in a train car heading one way. You know exactly where you’re going, you’ve packed the right clothes, you have money for postcards… then suddenly that train car is picked up, placed on another track and now you’re heading in a completely different direction. The passengers sitting next to you may seem the same or may even be the same… but when you look out the window the landscape is totally different. You have no time to find the conductor and shake him and tell him that “there must be some mistake! I should be going the OTHER way” cause your stop is coming up and you’ve got to gather my things and get on with it.

“Will you marry me?”

Life is a flow and once you step into that river you are on your way… no matter what… no matter what excuses you have that you don’t like cold water or reasons you need to be near the shore or ideas you think about how fast the river really should be going… you are in it and you are getting on with it.

“You got the house.”

Spirit. The Universe. The Path. Whatever you call IT has a way of taking the road you are on and turning it inside out, twisting it around, till at times you can barely recognize it… then what? Get on with it. Get on with it while knowing that the ultimate Truth is that you ARE the PATH. The classroom is in you. The landscape may only LOOK different, but if you really squint the landmarks are the same.
Compassion trumps separation.
Love conquers fear.
Forgiveness squashes pain.
It’s the rosetta stone for the soul. The cliff notes for the heart.

“Goodbye.”

The twists and turns are manageable if we can hold onto the Truths. If we can allow myself to see that it is ALL an adventure.
The places we know and those we don’t.
The people we love and those we have yet to.
The ideas we hold dear and the ones we are thinking right now.
They are all connected as a thrust, a flow, a responsive wave of life, no matter what the landscape looks like. We can step into that river knowing that at every instant it is never the same, WILL never be the same and that’s perfect. We can get onto that train knowing that no matter where we get off there will be a luncheonette and we can have a grilled cheese with a chocolate milk shake.

“Hello.”

It is always shifting. It is always a new beginning. Every day. Every moment- the big ones and the small ones. So let’s grab our bag, get on, get in, hold on, and say “Hello” right back.

. . .

Dearest Jean and Alex… we love you and are on the train with you.