Ordinary Life

Amazing Life

“Life is amazing. And then it's awful. And then it's amazing again. And in between amazing and awful, it's ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and exhale during the ordinary. That's just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it's breathtakingly beautiful.”

L.R. Knost

I sat in church yesterday and instead of listening to the sermon, I thought about the past week—about how it had been non-stop and had required major flexibility on my part. I thought about how many people I rarely see passed through my life in just one week—my house guest from the prairie and some of her friends, and the Friends of Jung seminar on Love that brought out the “Old Guard,” the founders of the organization. I had a dental appointment in which the hygienist leaned on my lower jaw for an hour and got my head and neck painfully out of joint. I went to see Garvice, my physical therapist, to get that straightened out. While he worked on me, I asked him what he would recommend if he were doing a “menopause ritual,” which is what my house guest wanted. Instead of laughing at me, he reminded me that Christine Northrop described menopause as a “lifting of the veil” on the second half of life—when a woman steps into her own authority and begins to live from it. That was perfect. In the middle of the week, our pastor's mother died and there was a funeral and a meal to cook for. I learned that a young man I know, a friend of my son, who had more than four years sobriety, had fallen off the wagon. In one day, he was fired from his job, took a swing at a police officer who was trying to get him into an ambulance, and ended up in jail. Now, he's back in rehab. Also, a local, well-known, well-loved musician died from lymphoma. His music partner and wife are friends of mine. It's been a week, y'all. One of those amazing, ordinary, awful ones. I came home from church and took a two hour nap.

When I woke from my nap, I went outside and planted a bag full of gladiolus bulbs. It was a beautiful, sunny day, filled with bird song. Life is an incredible ride, you know. The mixture of amazing, awful and ordinary is heartwarming, heartbreaking and soul-nourishing all at once. We humans focus on the negative, because it gets so much press and because it keeps our adrenaline pumping, but in between the bad news and worse news, there are moments of pure bliss. Those moments are worth enduring all the rest. I saw a car license plate yesterday that simply said, “0 Lort!” My sentiments exactly. I'm hoping for a quiet, ordinary week “in Lake Woebegone.” I hope yours is amazing.

                                                             In the Spirit,

                                                                 Jane