"People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle.  But I think the real miracle is to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child - our own two eyes.  All is a miracle."

                                                                             - Thich Nhat Hanh

In her book, Life is a Verb, Patti Digh asks this question:

"What is your touchstone, your talisman, small wonder that you carry with you into the world?....hold it safe, keep it company, swing it on your swing, sleep with it under your pillow. Let it remind you of finding wonder in our world, share it with others..."

I have carried all sorts of things: small shells so worn by the sea that they're translucent, multicolored grains of sand, pictuers of my childern when they were small, a small silver angel.

The angel is my mother. She received it from her "chem angel," a wonderful woman who herself had breast cancer, and now took the time to write to my mother, send her cards of encouragement, funny little stuffed animals, and the like as mom battled breast cancer.  I found this little angel when we were cleaning out mom's things after she had died.

Carrying her was taking a bit of my mother with me, a piece of her to hold on to.

I have a beautiful young girl in my class whose mother is now battling breast cancer. I think that I'm going to pass this angel on to her.  I like to think of my mother as taking care of her.  I know that my mother would do it; she knows how much a young child needs her own mother. What ever may happen, I know that my mother, an angel herself now, will give this mother what she needs..the grace to deal with what's coming her way.

When we will all realize just how precious this one short life is? We fret and fuss about such insignificant things. We waste way too much time.  We don't realize what we have.

I know I  do, no matter how much I try not to do so.

Phil and I were out and about today, and we stopped in one of my favorite stores, "Crate and Barrel." I love to wander through its bottom levels, looking at all the table settings. They're a feast of color and imagination.

I deliberately ignored most of my other favorite stores in the area; if I had wandered into them, I would have just gotten agitated with what I couldn't have, none of which I would have even known existed if I didn't enter the store! So, we left in a fairly good frame of mind, other than being a bit cranky from the humidity.

And, then I saw her. An elderly woman bundled up despite the humidity, all of her belongings stuffed into an ancient grocery cart, waiting to cross the road. She was gone from view in an instant, but she's still etched in my memory.

What a reality check. I have enough. I have an abundance, not only of things, but of friends, family, and exciting new opportunities knocking at my door.

So, I'll pass my angel along to where she's needed the most. And, I'll pray for the woman who haunts my dreams.

Comments

[Cami @ Heart-Shaped Rock Cottage]

I wonder if that woman wakes up most days happy as a clam or if she has a sense of freedom most of us will never know. Perhaps a mixed juxtaposition of both... I'm so happy you'll be passing on your silver angel. What a kind thing to do. One of good friends has breast cancer right now and she has almost completed the roughest part of her chemo. She is radiant in her thirst for life. Incredible...

[kim mailhot]

Your appreciation of abundance is so very beautiful, sweet Paula ! I forget it and remember it every day, I think.

I know that your student would so appreciate that little extra prayer from her teacher for her mom ! Your mom would be so proud of you for thinking of passing on that angel in someone else's time of need.

I hope your Sunday is particularily abundant...
Kim