"DANCING"

     It was a crisp, fall day. Just enough leaves were on the ground to make a crunching noise as I walked the trails through the woods. The leaves, in variegation's of browns, golds and yellows, still clinging to the trees, gave off an illusion of sunlight shining through the canopy above me.

     Twenty minutes of walking was all I needed to complete my exercise routine for that day. With headphones tuned to my latest favorite songs,  the "Tinker Bell Soundtrack", I walked to the beat of the music. Slow and then fast, the songs encouraged me to stay in a healthy rhythm as I stepped and stomped on dry leaves. For my body, it made me healthier. For my spirit, it filled me with joy. Today I could not help but dance.

     Arms moving in unison and in expression to the music, my spirit soared. Joy and elation filled me full. How could I hang onto this jubilation I feel right now, I asked myself. Dancing, marching, stepping, my body soared right along with my spirit.

     Then I saw Him. He took my breath away. I could only stop and stare. He stood in front of me, robe pulled up between His legs and tucked into His belt.

     And then He danced.

     Legs bent high, He awed me with His jubilation. He was dancing to my happiness. He was happy because I was happy.

     I could do nothing but watch, His feet lifting high as He did what seemed to be an Irish Jig. He wanted me to watch Him dance. He wanted me to see what joy I had brought to Him by my joy.

     "Watch how I do it! I'll teach you to do MY dance," He seemed to say. No audible words did I hear, only loud thoughts. That was how I knew it was Him. For that is how He speaks to me...through my thoughts and imagination.

     Dancing, joy, glee, jubilation. We showed each other these things that day. Our joy for each other was united. We were one in our rejoicing of life and living! Each of us filled with the joy and elation of the other.

"CORRECTING A WISH WITH A RENDEZVOUS"



     I had looked forward to this 'alone time' for weeks. The opportunity to finally do things on my own, I would think. I am truly the head of the family, at least for these three days.

     But life is full of surprises. Sometimes when we get what we wish for it's not really what we want.

     I missed my man of 37 years. I  missed him just minutes after he left for his three day camping trip with the men of our church. The days became longer than I'd expected, not seeing him as usual at the end of his work day.

     He would call often from the campground by cell phone and say he missed me, too. I would stay close to the phone so as not to miss his calls. I felt like a teenager missing her boyfriend after seeing him at school.

     He asked what I planned to do while he was gone. I told him of my desire to stroll through the Japanese Garden at Lake Sakajawea; thirty minutes from where I was and an hour and a half from where he was. We made a date, a rendezvous, to meet secretly so as the men of the church wouldn't know our plans. We'd meet for only half an hour, maybe enough time together so we wouldn't miss each other so much. We just might satisfy our loneliness with minutes of togetherness.

     Waiting at our meeting point, I see his car. There he is, I think. I could feel my heart beating faster. How silly a thing love is. After 37 years together and only 27 hours of seperation causes my heart to raise in seeing him again. Oh, how I love this man.

      He held me in his arms. Ahhh, so familiar, so safe, so warm and familiar. My heart knows this place and cozies right down, as if it were being wrapped in a warm quilt.

      No, don't make selfish wishes. They never come to fulfillment....not in the way we think they will.  But sometimes they teach you the truth of something.  In my case, the truth of where my heart is satisfied; with my man of 37 years.

    

"...AND I FLY!"

     I prepare to leave. I’ve exercised and stretched my wings in preparation for this day. I am ready.

     I leave behind family and friends, only for awhile. I will miss them, think about them. When I return I will share visual adventures through the art of words.

     I will return with souvenirs: stories to imprint on their imaginations and inspiration for their own life’s adventures.

     I don’t say goodbye. I rise before anyone else, even before the sun.

     Just as the sun skims above the horizon, I start my assent. Running, I spread my wings and scoop the air underneath them. The very action of fluttering captures atmosphere under each individual feather. Captured, and with no time to escape, air lifts me upward….

     And I fly!

     ‘Anywhere’ is my destination, for I’ve seen nothing of the earth in this way, at this altitude. All destinations are a new adventure; a new danger; a new exploit. I seek beauty from a different perspective. I search for unique objects and creatures and the mystery of life as seen from above it; a possible “God’s perspective”.

     Floating, swooping, gliding.

     It is everything I have dreamed it would be. My body doesn’t hold me back. I flap my wings just once and glide on a soft cushion of air. I am going to ‘Everywhere and Anywhere’. Every possible destination is my goal. No words describe the freedom I am absorbing.

     This is freedom. It must be what the spirit feels when it is released from the bonds of a body. Lightness, joy, elation, jubilation. Only words. It can’t be described by words, only experienced.

      I never want to go back to that earthly life and its gravity. No, never.

      And I fly…