October 1 passed, and I find myself in a small town in Northern California. After leaving my family residence, I made a little visit to my husband's and then accepted a short-term invitation by a Palisadian to visit her 2nd home in Northern California. She felt I needed the respite to process all the changes. It was the Godsend I was seeking.
When I saw My Sweet Praying Mantis something spooky happened. My husband said that a day or so after I told him about seeing one, a praying mantis walked into his art studio. He brought it outside, and it sat on him for a time and didn't want to leave. If that wasn't weird enough, the friend who invited me up here saw one on her deck of her Northern California home after she read the post My Sweet Praying Mantis Was Right. That one can be seen on the uploaded photograph.
Lately, I take glances at the LA Times horoscope for my sign, Cancer. It's nothing I'm really into, but when you are desperate for answers, you look everywhere. I have been startled how accurate they have been, but the October 1 horoscope took my breath away.
Monday, October 01, 2012
An end of an era is approaching. You don't just sense this, you can physically see how something is changing. You're being removed from a comfort zone and whilst this is causing you to feel apprehensive, you're probably finding the prospect of a fresh start to be exciting. You're being set free in an unprecedented way to make progress where you want to make it most.
While being in this Northern Californian town of approximately 3000, I can't help but draw comparisons to the Palisades. The culture is a bit like Topanga, kind of hippy-dippy. I don't feel at ease here as I did walking around the Palisades. Truthfully, my heart is broken that I had to leave, and I hope one day to return.
My last day in the Palisades I attended the Farmer's Market. I took a mental snapshot of it, realizing I would not be seeing it for a very long time. I sampled everything I never did before. It was so nice.
Finally, I paid a visit to the bluffs at Asilomar. I thanked them for the support they gave me, past and present--and for providing the space for meeting so many nice people and all the inspiring conversations we had. It was a tearful good-bye.
I will continue to blog here so long as I think I might have something worthwhile to contribute. Many of the posts will be about the community resilience seeds I have planted. While CERT is one of the seeds that may take off; there are others that have not. Some may be ideas way before their time for this community though not for others. However, if I support the planting by blogging about them, it's possible community members will latch onto some of them and continue where I left off. In addition, I may encounter how other communities are addressing resilience and will share what I see.
There are many reasons why I want to continue my connection with the Palisades in this work, but the foremost one has to do with my deceased father. I will explain this further in an upcoming post.
I am learning that there is something magical about life. I can't help myself when things like praying mantises show up and other "coincidences" on a daily basis. When you tap into that magic, events attributed to great mystics are at your fingertips, and life takes on a beauty that is astounding.
What is this magic? Love.
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