Threads of Every Color

Weaving a Life Tapestry

“Everyday is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”

Matsuo Basho

With each new day, we take another step on our journey. Every trip away from the familiar, whether for pleasure or out of necessity, adds new thread to one's life-tapestry. Think of all the refugees in the this world, who've been forced out of house and home. They've trekked through deserts and crossed borders to find any semblance of safety. They've experienced deprivation and unimaginable stress and loss, and no doubt, hopelessness. They've learned the strength of survival in the face of death and destruction all around. Sometimes life is bitterly, monstrously unfair. Dark threads.

Think also of people like my friend, Annette, who crosses the earth time after time, to cultures whose language she does not speak, and whose climate is alien to her. She immerses herself in their customs, and thrills in their unfamiliar landscapes. She dances their dances, eats their food, and becomes one of them to every extent possible. And she thrives. Brilliant threads of every color.

Then there are the observers, like me. We go, we watch, we record, and appreciate the details. We touch, taste, and probe. We analyze from a safe distance. Our involvement is peripheral and mild, but we notice what others overlook. Light threads.

The journey is the destination, and each of us travels to our own beat. In all of it we are adding depth and color to our tapestry—everyday—even right here at home.

                                                                       In the Spirit,

                                                                             Jane