Lessons Learned from the Mouth of Babes

It’s amazing how sometimes lessons in life can come full circle. From my arrival in Arizona to my wayward departure, I have learned many incredible lessons that will hopefully be imprinted on my soul (if not the inner-workings of my random brain 🙂 ).

For those that have known me long enough (or have at least read my verbal meanderings about India last winter), you might have come to recognize that I am a bit of a scatterbrain when it comes to certain small possessions (glasses, keys, small electronics, trinkets, etc). In other words, I don’t necessarily pay attention to where/when I might lay things down.

Tim, an old friend from my packing days at skyDIVE chICAGo, offered me a lovely meal and home-away-from-home outside of the VW bus he was lending to me for the winter. With this most generous of welcomes came an introduction to his new baby Mira, an adorably frisky black Lab puppy. Never having the chance to live with a house dog, my initiation at Tim’s was to have my driving glasses confiscated and ‘go missing’ from the coffee table. The culpability of Mira has yet to be determined, but to this day, we haven’t been able to locate them!

In parallel, last night before going to bed, I asked both Tim and his partner Andrea to sign my book of friendship before slaDE and I were to leave.

As a small prelude, this is not just any little autograph book hand bound with homemade blue paper direct from the hands of an East Indian labourer, but rather a vessel than portrays the beauty and soul of those that have touched my travels, since leaving India.

When I awoke, blissfully rested, slaDE~ came into the bedroom with a foreboding sad look in his beautiful blue eyes. I silently questioned what was wrong and he answered with a gentle hug and an appeal for me to take a deep breath. Leaving the room, he returned holding silent witness to my book of many colours. Laying it gently on the bed, It fell apart like a crushed butterfly, devoid of it’s wings. Tears of shock and sadness washed over me. Those little scoundrels (Tim has 2 Lab puppies at the moment). They did it again! After a brief moment of indignation, I mused that I couldn’t possibly remain angry with those beautiful puppy demons (who hold NOTHING sacred and believe everything is fair game — don’t even ask about my once-missing rubber-encased iPod!). The positive side of this otherwise not-so-funny comedy was that all the contact addresses were still legible and intact. Yay!!

In those moments of heartbreak and purposeful revelations, I came to the conclusion that holding onto something so tight and precious can only bring about loss in the end. By releasing the hold and power of those sentiments contained within the blue pages of my nomadic bible, I found freedom and empowerment in the words so lovingly written by those who have blessed my life with meaning and quality.
I am actually grateful to those beloved dogs who masticated my Indian memory book into a jumbled pulp … to be reminded of the responsibilities of ownership and foremost the art and lessons of letting go is a strength I appeal my higher senses to, especially if I am to survive Guatemala somewhat unscathed …