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| 1969 with our foreign exchange student from the Netherlands |
As Emerson said, we see our
life in glimpses and glances.
I’ve arrived in my childhood home, where it all
began, and I’m knowing it for the first time.
I look around.
What comes to me when I think
of spiritual here?
It was 1961 when I was born.
My siblings were ages 14, 12, 9, and 8-years-old
when I arrived. For all my childhood, I was a keen observer of the 4 of them
and they shed the love upon me, that my parents taught us to share through
example. When I think about spiritually in my upbringing, I think about love
and light and the interconnectedness of not just human beings but all living
things on earth.
My parents loved each other deeply
and supported their five kids with compassion for where we each were in our
lives. They were usually conscious about not making their agenda our agenda,
which allowed our spirits to bloom and grow.
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| My baptism ( check out my mom's hat) |
MY DAD WAS AN ATHEIST AND MY MOM WAS A PRESBYTERIAN, but he escorted her to church on Sunday because he thought
the sermons were thought-provoking and he liked the community of church, as
well as being with her.
There were never any
conversations about God in our home as I remember (except when my hippie
siblings revolted against going to church and said that there was no such thing
as a God) but I know that spirituality lived in them, even though I couldn’t possibly
articulate this then.
I always had the feeling that
my parents were incredibly grateful for everything that they had and I don’t mean
materialistically. I think they understood that health and life could change on
a dime and they showed their gratitude for living daily, with a blessing at night
before dinner.
They brought other people into
the nest of our home frequently and put their wings around visitors as if they
were their own.
There was a feeling in MY CHILDHOOD HOME that I was in the right place and it wasn’t just because I felt very
loved. I think it was partly the light coming in the windows, the classical
music that was frequently playing, my dad whistling, the aroma of my mom’s good
cooking and the affection that was given each night before bedtime. It
was a safe and nurturing place to grow up and I felt very grateful for this, once
I was old enough to visit other homes and realized that not everyone was as blessed
as I was.
When I think of spirituality in
my childhood home, I also think of the five senses. My parents were both such
sensuous beings. They were tapped into beauty, touch, taste, smell and sound
and I believe they were also tapped into the sixth sense of intuition. I don’t
think this was ever articulated but they were both keen observers and very deep
in their own way, as well as connected to nature profoundly.
This is my first story.
This is my first story.
