Today is the first day of SouLodge, and so I am pouring my energy carefully into that beautiful vessel and feeling conservative. I'm nursing a terrible headcold as a result of many things happening all at once.
The most unexpected event, though I feel right with how it all went down, is that I lost my sweet cat on Friday night. He crossed over in my arms after making it very clear to me that day that he was finished fighting the strange virus that took him over the week before. That day he lingered in doorways, lying between worlds and preparing himself for the journey. I wanted him to go in peace, and I also wanted him to stay...for me. He was over fifteen and we had many good snuggling and hugging years together. Still, you know how it is-you know how letting go goes.
The sweet and tender woman Lis Hofmann left this on my Facebook page, for which I am so grateful-in all moments of grief this will stay with me:
"Gradually, you will learn acquaintance
With the invisible form of your departed;
And when the work of grief is done,
The wound of loss will heal
And you will have learned
To wean your eyes
From that gap in the air
And be able to enter the hearth
In your soul where your loved one
Has awaited your return
All the time."
- John O'Donohue
I'm just taking it slow and steady.