Dear Friend,
I’m writing from our next door neighbours kitchen table. They’re in Barcelona for a week enjoying the sunshine. We’re keeping an eye on their two kittens, Maisie and Souza.
Eager to explore, when our neighbours return from their trip the kittens will be introduced to the world beyond the kitchen window.
They’ve yet to smell the rain or feel it on their paws. The wind on their faces, the earth between their toes. To stretch out in the sunshine and fall sleep on the lawn.
All they know are the boundaries of the house. Floorboards and plaster.
Their world will expand to the rectangular patchwork of gardens teeming with life, and challenges.
A crow has spent the morning gathering nesting materials from our honey suckle and wisteria. The bird is the same size as Maisie. Jet black plumage. She watches from her place by the door. The threshold that will open for her in few days. Through which the two sisters will pass into the unknown.
There’s the black and white senior cat we call Fluffy.
Fluffy patrols the gardens ceaselessly. Claims the territory as their own. Not to mention that dogs that visit us.
To stand at the threshold of the unknown. Isn’t that where we all stand?
Remember those mental maps?
The limits of our world.
To step beyond them into the adventure of our lives. Isn’t that at the heart of our conundrum?
Like house cats or hobbits, our souls call us to adventure. If we resist long enough, life with fling us out into the world. We land shaken, perhaps bruised. Sometimes broken. It can be a frightening experience, but experience must come.
We must get to know ourselves. That’s why we came here. It’s the unspoken rule.
Who are we at our core if not love?
A messy human business.
My friend Luke just this second sent me a message.
His mother spoke of the things she would do after retirement. Sadly she was taken by an illness before any of that became real for her. We talk about it often. Especially when we’re thinking about the future. She inspires us to take the step that frightens us. Imperfectly. Hesitantly maybe, but crossing the threshold never-the-less.
The kittens are playing. They go from window to door and back again.
Curious, playful, innocent.
Nine lives they say.
We’re always at the beginning of our journeys.
That’s a standout feature of eternity.
Whatever has life is immortal.
Not the physical outer form.
The inner life.
That which we are.
It’s okay to afraid.
Take the step anyway.
Courage cannot be without fear.
Fear melts as we take action.
Or maybe just sit awhile in peaceful contemplation.
Not all thresholds are external.
Till Tomorrow
Love
Mikey